The Art of Love
by Marlyssa
Summary: Much to Ingrid's displeasure Mr. Third starts dating an artist. Meanwhile there's a mole on the cheerleading squad and Ingrid and Fillmore must go undercover in some unexpected roles to crack the case.
1. Act I: The Art Room

A/N: I don't own Fillmore, Disney, blah blah blah (I bet you already knew that.) Anyway, here I am back again. At the end of my last story I told people that if they wanted parts to tell me, so if you wanted a part please e-mail me ( ) and tell me a little about yourself. And a lil about your character if you want. (Please don't send anything if you haven't already told me you wanted a part because I already have tons of people, sry.) A couple of people have helped me with this story and I'll tell you who when it comes to the part they helped me on. For now, just enjoy.  
  
The Art Room  
  
It was a normal day for the safety patrol, maybe a little on the slow side, nothing that was too unusual. Ingrid was sitting in her art class trying to spin a vase.Unfortunately this kind of art wasn't Ingrid's forte, and she was having some trouble. Suddenly she realized that someone was standing beside her. She looked up and saw a boy with blond hair looking down at her. "Uh, can I help you?" She asked uncertainly.  
  
"Actually, I was wondering if you needed help? You look like you could use it."  
  
"Uh sure I guess," Ingrid usually didn't like to ask for help but she really did need it.  
  
"Okay," the boy pulled up a chair and sat by Ingrid. She let him take over control of the wheel. "See," he said as he began reforming the shapeless lump. "You have to keep moving your hands. That's what you were doing wrong. You were just focusing on one small part. You have to look at the whole thing. Okay, you try."   
  
Ingrid shrugged and took over the wheel, but before long the vase was losing its form.  
  
"Here, I'll help you." The boy placed his hands on Ingrid's and guided them around until the face had a defined shape.  
  
"Ingrid, come on. Vallejo wants to see us." It was Fillmore, he had come from history class and was now standing right beside Ingrid. Ingrid nodded and he walked out to the hall.  
  
"Okay," Ingrid said, turning to the boy. "I have to go. Um, thanks." She washed her hands quickly and walked out into the hall where Fillmore was waiting with his arms crossed and a mocking smile. "What are you smiling at?" Ingrid asked.  
  
"Anza wouldn't like that, Ingrid," Fillmore joked.  
  
But Ingrid didn't understand, "What do you mean?"  
  
"You and Matthew Delaney in the art room," said Fillmore, smiling mischievously.  
  
"Your boyfriend wouldn't like that."  
  
"Fillmore, he was just teaching me how to make a vase. I didn't even know his name until you told me. And as far as Anza, he doesn't really need to know."  
  
"Why not? You said it was no big deal."  
  
"It's not, it just doesn't matter, so why bother?"  
  
Fillmore nodded disbelievingly as they reached HQ.  
  
"It took you long enough," Vallejo said smugly as Ingrid and Fillmore entered.  
  
"Nice to see you too, Vallejo." Fillmore shot back sarcastically, taking a seat in front of Vallejo's desk.  
  
"What did we do this time?" Ingrid asked, sitting in the other chair.  
  
"Actually, I need you two to look at this," Vallejo said passing a file to Fillmore who opened it so both he and Ingrid could read it.   
  
"These are just pictures of different cheer leading squads cheering. What's the big deal?" Fillmore asked looking at Ingrid to see if she understood what they were looking at.  
  
But of course she understood. "Don't you see Fillmore?" she asked. "These cheerleaders are all doing the same routine." She looked at Fillmore and then Vallejo. "Okay, I'll bite. Why are you showing us this?"  
  
"Well, all these squads are doing a routine made by the X cheerleaders. Usually, cheers are "public domain," but this was the routine that X was planning to do in the annual cheer off."  
  
"And you want us to..." Ingrid let her question trail off, dreading the answer.  
  
"Well someone on the cheer leading squad is passing information to other squads. I need you two to go undercover and figure out who it is. Now before I tell you exactly what you're supposed to do, remember this wasn't my idea."  
  
Fillmore sighed, he had no idea what to expect, but he knew he wouldn't like it.Ingrid just sat there. She was pretty sure she already knew what was coming. It turns out she only knew half of it.  
  
A/N: Okay maybe you've noticed an improvement in my grammer/spelling. That's because I got Rinne to check my work before I submit it, I just wanted to give her credit for what she did. Thanks Rinne! Okay, so tell me what you guys think! 


	2. Act II: The Unwanted Assignment

A/N: Wow, long time no see, soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo sorry. This is what happens when you hold down four ff's, run a website, are a member of 6 websites/role plays, and start high school all at the same time. I know that's not excuse and yes this ff WILL be finished, here comes chapter 2. It did not go through spelling/grammer check, because I wanted to get it to you faster.  
  
Act II: The Unwanted Assignment Vallejo looked at them both, "Ingrid, Folsom wants you to go undercover as a cheerleader."  
Fillmore sat there for a second looking shocked, but then, to everyone's surprise he started to laugh. "Come on Vallejo. What do you really want her to do."  
Ingrid looked over at her partner, "Fillmore, he's serious, he wants me to be a cheerleader."  
"Come on Vallejo this is Imgrid. She can't be a cheerleader." Fillmore smiled, "I mean, what was Folsom thinking when she assigned this? Ingrid's a great safety patroller but even she has limits. She's not super woman."  
Ingrid suddenly got a great idea. Leave it to Fillmore to do her a favor without even realizing it. Maybe Vallejo didn't know, maybe if she played along.  
"Fillmore's right, I can't be a cheerleader, Vallejo. Backflips, cheers, those skirts," she grimaced. "Besides, I don't have that kind of talent." She stood up and started to walk away. "Oh well, maybe you can get Tehama."  
But it was no good, Vallejo stopped her before she reached the door. "Nice try Third, I've got your file, sit down."  
  
Thirty minutes later Ingrid and Fillmore emerged from Vallejo's office. "I can't believe you never told me you were a cheerleader," Fillmore laughed, he seemed to be enjoying this.  
"I was a gymnast not a cheerleader. It was a long time ago and can you be quiet about it? I don't want everyone to know about this assignment."  
"Too late," Tehama had appeared from no where. "The whole safety patrol knows. I'm sure you two will be very happy together." She smiled and looked at Anza who was standing beside her.  
"Yeah, but remember, you guys are on the job. Ingrid is mine, Fillmore." Anza laughed dood naturedly and gave Ingrid a quick squeeze.  
"I'm not your's, I'm your girlfriend," Ingrid thought, slightly irritated. Fillmore smiled, "don't worry about that, Anza."  
"We're going home," Tehama said, "we" meaning herself, Anza and O'Farrell. O'Farrell and Tehama were next door neighbors and Anza's mother was going to pick him up.  
"Ok, see you tomorrow," Ingrid said. Tehama, O'Farrell and Anza left (Anza gave Ingrid a small kiss on the cheek before leaving.) "So what now?" She asked Fillmore.  
"I don't know, I guess we need to get our uniforms." Fillmore was referring to his football uniform, that was his undercover job. He needed an excuse to stay close to Ingrid so he was captain of the football team, and Ingrid was the head cheerleader. Of course they were dating, who else would be good enough for the head cheerleader?  
  
"I'll see you tomorrow I guess," Ingrid said when they arrived at her house. "Unless you need me to help you with your homework?"  
"No, not tonight. We didn't have much and it's done already." "Alright, see you Fillmore."  
"Bye Ingrid."  
Ingrid walked into her house and saw the boy from her art class sitting on her couch. "Um Matthew? Is there a reason why you're in my living room?"  
Matthew opened his mouth but before he could answer a woman Ingrid didn't reconize walked in the room. She had red hair with brown highlights and blue eyes. She had a few freckles across her nose, and she was followed by Ingrid's father.  
"Um dad? Who is in our house?" Ingrid looked at her father, wanting an answer.  
"I told you I had someone I wanted you to meet. This is Katherine Delaney."  
  
A/N Okay, it jumps around a lot but I had a lot of stuff to put in. Oh and I wanted to tell you that the whole undercover cheerleader, Ingrid/Fillmore "dating" is my original idea. But the other main plot (Katherine Delaney...) is the idea of es1. I guess she liked my writing style or something, but she asked me to write an ff with that plot so, major credit to her.  
  
Oh and Fillmore's team is an AMERICAN football team. Not football like it is in the rest of the world. 


	3. Act III: Suprises

A/N: Wow guess who's been grounded? Yeah me, three out of the last four weeks. In fact I'm sneaking on right now because I wanted to write this post for you. I'm a little upset with some of the reviews I've gotten. I'm a little disappointed in those of you who thought I was actually going to keep this an A/I, especially those of you who read "She's Gone" (I'm not really mad, just to let you all know) Anyway, here we go with another post.  
  
Act III: Suprises   
  
Ingrid just stood there staring. "Ummm Dad, can I talk to you a minute?"  
"Why certainly Ing-"  
"In the kitchen," Ingrid said pointedly.  
"Ummm, sure honey, whatever you want." Mr. Third followed Ingrid into the kitchen, wondering what was arong.  
"I thought you said that you said you were bringing your girlfriend home?"  
"I did, honey. That's her, Katherine."  
Ingrid stared at her father, "I thought you were seeing Mrs. Baxter, the math Professor at the University?"  
"Well I was but..." her father trailed off.  
"Who is this person, you've never talked about her."  
"She's a teacher, sometimes," he muttered the last part under his breath.  
Ingrid jumped on it, "what do you mean, sometimes?"  
"Well, she teaches art classes sometimes, she's an artist."  
"An artist?!? Why haven't you ever told Ariella and I about her?"  
"I don't knoe, I just never thought about it, why does it matter if she's an artist? So is your sister."  
"That's completely different. What happened to Miss Baxter?"  
"She was boring, I like Katherine, why don't you go talk to her, you'd like her too."  
"Doubt it," Ingrid muttere, but her father heard her.  
Mr. Third's usually soft voice became stern. "Ingrid Charlotte Third, if that's the attitude you're going to take then I don't think you should even meet Katherine."  
"I was thinking the same thing, I have better things to do anyway, I have a project I have to shop for."  
Ingrid left the kitchen and went to the drug store. She needed hair dye.  
  
Ingrid wished she had taken a sweater, it was cold and she could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She gave a small smile, remembering the look that the cashier had given her when she had ask for light brown hair dye and a blond highlighting kit. But the smile quickly faded as she remembered the argument she had had with her father. Why couldn't he be sensible? Why couldn't he realize what a mistake he was making? She wondered if he was still mad at her. Probably, she had never had that big of a disagreement with him. At least, not recently. As she neared her house, she dreaded going in, what if they were still there? But the car was gone, she checked her watch, 9 o' clock, yes they would be gone by now. She opened the door and slipped up to her room, then having a better idea, went to Ariella's room and knocked on the door.  
"Come in," came her sister's voice.  
"Can you help me, I need to dye my hair."  
"Dye your hair?"  
Ingrid nodded, "and highlight it."  
Ariella, giving Ingrid an, 'I-won't-ask' look, nodded. "Sure, let me see the boxes."  
Ingrid handed them over, "Uhhh Ingrid," said Ariella. "These highlights are blond1"  
"Yeah, I know, it's for the safety patrol."  
"Can't you wear a wig?"  
"Not when I'm doing gymnastics," Ingrid sighed, miserably.  
"What are you talking about?"  
"Vallejo and Folsom found out about my gymnatics background and they're making me go undercover...as a cheerleader."  
Ariella laughed, "are you serious?"  
"Why would I waste my money on blond highlights if I was kidding?"  
Ariella got up off her bed, "come on, my little cheerleader." She was having fun with this.  
One hour later Ingrid's hair was a perfect sunlightened chestnut brown with golden blond highlights.  
Ingrid stood in front of the mirror, running her fingers through her once jet black hair. "It's not the end of the world Ingrid," her sister coaxed.  
"You have no idea," Ingrid couldn't help but think about how Fillmore would tease her.  
"Well, on the plus side, the highlights turned out more light brown then blond." Ariella tried to encourage her.  
"Ingrid didn't answer, "I'm going to bed," she finally answered. As she tumbled into bed she had a terrible thought, what if Anza liked her hair like this? "Well to bad for him," she muttered as she fell asleep, dreading the next morning.  
  
A/N: Well that should hold you until...how about tomorrow? Ok, see you guys soon. Bye! 


	4. Act IV: A New Look

A/N: Not even going to make an excuse for the delay...But I will apologize about it and I will apologize for my writing. It hasn't been that good on this story. Anyone who has read "She's Gone" should feel let down by this story. I am. Anyway, I'm going to try very hard to improve it, tell me what you think.

"Wake up Ingrid!" Ingrid had a rude awakening, she was shaken into reality by Ariella.  
"What are you doing? I don't get up for half an hour"  
"Well today you get up early"  
Ingrid sat up and rubbed her eyes, "why"  
Ariella sighed, "you have to get ready"  
"Ready"  
"Yes, I have to do your hair and makeup and"  
"No"  
"What? You need it"  
"No way. Haven't I been through enough? Do I need to remind you that I wasted my allowance on highlights? BLONDE highlights"  
Ariella rolled her eyes. "Okay, NO makeup, but you have to do SOMETHING to your hair, or people might recognize you"  
Ingrid thought for a minute. This WAS her job; she didn't want to blow it. "Fine, no makeup but you can put my hair up or something"  
Ariella smiled, "good"  
Ingrid noticed Ariella's smile. "You're enjoying this aren't you"  
"Imensly, the blackmail possibilities alone are endless"  
"You wouldn't"  
"Probably not. Now come on I've got to get you ready."

An hour later half of Ingrid's hair was in a ponytail and curled. She had agreed to some clear lipgloss but no other makeup. Ingrid decided that she might as well wear the uniform to school. "I look ridiculous," she said, standing in front of her mirror. "You look fine," Ariella said, looking at the reflection.  
"I don't even look like me"  
"Isn't that a good thing"  
"Well, I guess"  
"What do you think Anza will say"  
"I don't know, I don't really care"  
Ariella raised an eyebrow, "you don't? He's your boyfriend"  
"So? I'm not staying like this. Besides, I'm a little more concerned with how funny Fillmore will find this"  
"I see," Ariella mumbled.  
"What was that"  
"Nothing, you better leave. Fillmore will be down at the corner any minute."

"Woah"  
"Will you please quit saying that"  
Fillmore laughed, "sorry, it's just a little"  
"Strange, freaky, weird, awful"  
"No, it's just different. What do you think Anza will say"  
"First my sister now you, I wish people would quit asking. I don't care what he thinks"  
"Woah, sorry it's just"  
"No, it's okay, he IS my boyfriend; I probably should care what he thinks"  
Fillmore shrugged. "Maybe, let's just forget about it, he'll think what he'll think"  
"Good idea. Look, we're almost at school, we need think of places to meet and talk about developements in the case. We can't go back to HQ"  
"Well I've got practice after school"  
"So do I, mine ends at 4:30"  
"So does mine. I guess you'll have to wait around for me because I'm gonna need a shower before I talk to you"  
"It's okay, I'll need a shower too"  
Fillmore raised his eyebrows. "Are you serious? A shower after cheerleading"  
"Well I'm not saying that cheering is hard, but gymnastics takes work and you WILL sweat"  
Fillmore looked unconvinced, "okay, whatever you say, 4:45 then"  
"Sounds good, I'll see you in the gym"  
They went through the doors of X and then went to their seperate classes. 


	5. Act V: Mindy and Brian

A/N: Thank you guys for taking the delay in my writing so well. You guys are so understanding. Anyway, one thing you all asked for in your reviews was an update soon. Well I think I owe you at least that much. And I'll try to make this chapter longer since you all wanted that.

Es1, long time no see; thank you for sending a review. I hope you're happy with how I'm writing the story. If I do anything with your plot line that you don't like; please feel free to tell me. Ok, on to the story**…**

Ingrid tapped her fingers on her desk. She was in pre algebra; the last place she wanted to be. Not only had she not been to a real class since she had joined the force; she had NEVER expected to be in a pre algebra class in 7th grade. But she wasn't Ingrid Third now; she was Mindy Thompson, the new head cheerleader. And everybody knew that cheerleaders were airheads. (I apologize to any cheerleaders; this is not my true opinion of them; I'm just guessing that this is Ingrid's frame of mind.)

"Miss Thompson?"

"Yes Mrs. Riley?" Ingrid answered, slightly surprised.

"You don't seem to be enjoying this class. Is there something wrong?"

'I'm bored out of my mind!' That's what Ingrid wanted to say. "No Mrs. Riley. I'm okay." That's what she forced herself to say.

"Well then, I suppose you can solve the problem on the board?"

Of course Ingrid could solve the problem she took pre algebra in 4th grade. But "Mindy Thompson" hadn't. Ingrid nodded to the teacher, took the chalk, and walked to the board trying to decide what to do. Suddenly, she heard a voice; Mrs. Riley's voice, "Mindy? If you don't think you are capable of the problem, you can go back to your seat if you want."

Ingrid made up her mind. Fillmore had always told her how when teachers were out to embarrass you the one thing to remember was never back down. "No Mrs. Riley, I can do it."

And she did. Ingrid did her problem and put the chalk down. She turned to face Mrs. Riley. "Is that all you want me to do?"

"Yes, sit down Mindy." Ingrid walked to her seat and grabbed her books just as the bell rang.

"That wasn't so bad," she mumbled to herself.

"Never thought I'd be here again," Fillmore mumbled to himself. There he was; in history class. He had ALWAYS hated history. Ingrid had tutored him in it but he had never really caught on.

"Mr. Harris, you look rather bored. I suppose that means that you know the answer?"

Fillmore looked up; not only did he hate history, but his alias, Brian Harris, was also bad at it. Nevertheless, he decided to give it a shot. "Could you repeat the question please, Mr. Hackman?"

Mr. Hackman gave a small smirk. "Of course I will Brian. Who signed the Magna Carta and in what year?"

Fillmore thought back a moment to the tutoring sessions Ingrid had given him. He could remember exactly what she had said…

'I think remembering dates is completely pointless, but most teachers are big on it. One date that is important is the Magna Carta. It was signed in 1215, by John the first.'

'Thank God for Ingrid,' he thought.

Fillmore smiled and looked at Mr. Hackman. "King John the first in 1215."

Ingrid stood in front of the cheerleading squad. She was in the gym after school and practice was about to start. "I'm Mindy Thompson, I just moved here from New Jersey. Anyway, Principal Folsom told me to come here after school. She said that your old captain, Katie, just moved and she thought I'd be a good replacement."

A girl with dark brown hair stood up. "Well, I'm Tandi. I've been a temporary captain lately." Tandi stuck out her hand and Ingrid shook it.

"So is it ok that I take over now?" Ingrid asked, eyeing all of the girls. She was already trying to pick out the mole.

Tandi smiled "well I'm sure that you're fit for the job, otherwise Principal Folsom wouldn't have selected you. But do you think you could show us some of you gymnastics first, and then the girls can vote."

Ingrid only let her smile falter for a second. "Ummm sure, that sounds fair."

Ingrid walked to the far end of the gym. She got a running start and did a round off, an aerial, a front walkover, two front handsprings and a front tuck. (I really hope these are all actual moves) She then did two back handsprings and a back tuck.

"That was amazing!" Tandi bursted out, "you've definitely got my vote. What do you girls think?"

Everyone on the team raised their hand except for one girl with black hair. Ingrid made a mental note of that.

Tandi introduced everyone in the circle. "That's Candy, Jamie, Teresa, Miranda, Cindy, Samantha, Chloe, Libby, Amanda, and Debbie."

Ingrid shook everyone's hand and discovered that Debbie was the girl who hadn't voted for her. The rest of practice went smoothly; Ingrid found herself oddly happy to find that the team was actually talented. Most of the girls did great gymnastics and only Samantha seemed slightly timid.

At 4:30 Ingrid called practice, "ok everyone that was great. See you all tomorrow."

"So what did you find out?" Fillmore asked, they were alone in the gym.

"Not much, other then the fact that the team is incessantly perky."

"Wow, I never knew that about cheerleaders. I thought they were just mellow people who were always depressed."

Ingrid rolled her eyes, "anyway, there IS something. There's this one girl named Debbie. I don't think she likes me being here to well."

"What makes you say that?"

"She didn't, uh-"

"What?"

"She um, didn't vote for me."

"Are you serious? You're mad because she didn't vote for you?"

"No, I'm not mad. I'm just surprised. She the only one who didn't and it surprised me and-" Ingrid stopped mid-sentence.

"What?"

"I think someone's coming."

"Sorry, it's just me." Tandi walked into the gym. "I'm sorry, I forgot my gym bag. She picked up a blue bag. "Oh, and I wasn't trying to eavesdrop but I heard what you were saying. Don't worry about Debbie; she's like that with everyone." And with that she left.

Fillmore turned to Ingrid. "See, she's like that with everyone."

Ingrid shrugged she wasn't really sure about that.

Fillmore lowered his voice, "We need to find a better place to talk. And we're gonna have to play up this dating thing."

Ingrid nodded, "And we're going to have to call each other Mindy and Brian."

"Yeah but right now I have to get home."

Ingrid checked her watch, "me too."

"Can I walk you?" Fillmore smiled.

"Of course."


	6. Act VI: Cheerleaders and Delaneys

A/N: Not much to say, other than thank you for reading and reviewing. This is a much longer chapter than usual. I hope you all like it! Here we go…

It was Wednesday and X Middle School was closed because of parent/teacher conferences. Ingrid and Fillmore were lying on the floor in Ingrid's room, looking at the files for all the X cheerleaders.

"What are we looking for exactly?" Fillmore picked up a file, put it down, and picked up another one.

"Something that seems odd for a cheerleader to have in her file. Like uhhh, like a weird club or a behavioral problem."

"Are you serious? Ingrid at X we have a wrapping chess player and a safety patroller who was almost expelled."

"It's the best I've got. What do you think there should be?" Ingrid picked up Tandi's file and opened it.

"She's the cheerleading captain. You think that she would be out to ruin the team's chances of winning?" Fillmore smiled in his familiar manner.

"Well, I don't think she would but we have to check out everyone." Ingrid put the file down and picked up Debbie's.

Fillmore gave a little smile. "Ingrid, are you still mad about Debbie?"

"I already told you, I was never mad. I was just surprised."

Fillmore looked at her, disbelievingly.

Ingrid rolled her eyes, "Let's go to the kitchen."

"Sounds good, we're done here anyway aren't we?"

"Hold on; let me just check Libby's file." Ingrid took about two seconds to read it thanks to here photographic memory.

"Anything strange?"

"Not unless you count your choice of accessories."

Fillmore looked at the picture; Libby was wearing three necklaces, two pairs of earrings, and about twenty bracelets. "Well other then overkill on the jewelry, we've got nothing."

"I should have known; they're just files."

"I guess you're just gonna have to figure it out under cover."

"Yeah, let's go. Are you hungry?"

"Ingrid, this is me you're talking to."

Ingrid smiled, "why do I even ask?"

After Fillmore left, Ingrid was sitting in the living room reading.

"Ingrid, I'm glad you're here. I wanted to talk to you about something."

"What's that?"

Mr. Third sat down. "Ingrid, Katherine's coming over again tonight. Now, I would really like you to put forward an effort to get along with her tonight. Will you?"

Ingrid sighed, "Sure, is Matthew coming over too?"

"Actually, yes, so after dinner you two can go upstairs and "hang out" in your room if you want."

Ingrid shrugged, "Alright, when will they be here?"

Mr. Third hesitated, "Ummm, any minute now."

Just then the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it." Ingrid got up and walked over to the door. "Hello Miss Delaney, hey Matthew." She tried to be polite as she led them into her living room. She then turned to her dad, "I'm going to go get Ariella."

She walked upstairs and knocked on her sister's door, "Ariella, it's me. Can I come in?"

"Sure"

Ariella was lying on her stomach on her bed, doing her homework that had been assigned Tuesday. "What's up?"

"Katherine is here," Ingrid didn't attempt to hide the displeasure in her voice or face.

Ariella studied Ingrid for a moment before replying. "Can I ask you a question, Ingrid?"

"Well, you just did." She smiled, "but yeah, you can ask me another."

Ariella looked her straight in the eye. "Why don't you like Katherine? When dad used to talk about her you never minded. He and Katherine and other people did things together. And he even took her for coffee a couple of times."

Ingrid thought for a minute, she was pretty sure Ariella was trying to trap her into saying something and then use against her by relating it to something in her life. Ingrid didn't want to make it too easy for her, so she chose her words very carefully. "I'm not really sure. Before it was different because they went out and did group things. And then he took her out to coffee as friends. And when he took her out to coffee the last couple of times he was seeing Miss Baxter, so it seemed, you know, safe."

"Safe?"

"I don't really know the word I'm looking for. But if I had known that he was going to stop seeing Miss Baxter for Katherine then I would have been mad about coffee and things like that."

Ariella smiled the little smile that she saved for times when she got what she wanted.

Ingrid sighed, "You're going to use that in a lesson or something, aren't you?"

Ariella smiled again, "as long as what I think is going to happen, happens. Anyway, another question, what is so wrong with Katherine."

Ingrid sighed, "There's nothing wrong with her as a person. I just don't see as someone who's good for dad."

"Sometimes things like that surprise you with people. Give her a chance."

Ingrid gave another sigh, "Sure, can we go now, please?"

The girls made their way downstairs.

"Ah there you two are I thought you'd gotten lost." Mr. Third turned to Katherine. "Katherine, I don't believe that you ever actually met my daughters. This is Ariella and this is Ingrid." He pointed to each of his daughters in turn and they sat beside him on the sofa. "I'm going to go finish dinner; you and Matthew can stay and talk to Ingrid and Ariella." He left, and everything was quiet for a moment.

Katherine cleared her throat, "So, how old are you girls?"

"I'm 16; I'm a junior at Y high school." (Lame name, I know.)

Ingrid decided that she would try to make this work. "I'm 13; I go to X Middle School, I'm in the 7th grade."

Katherine's face brightened, "Matthew told me that you are on some sort of safety squad or something there."

Ingrid found that she was bothered by Katherine's improper naming of the safety patrol. "Yeah I'm on the safety patrol. My partner, Fillmore, and I are undercover right now on a case."

"Oh Fillmore, you're boyfriend."

Ingrid went a light pink. Matthew quickly corrected his mother, "Mom! Her boyfriend is Joseph Anza. Fillmore is just her best friend."

Ingrid shot Matthew a smile of thanks and decided to thank him personally later.

Katherine looked slightly embarrassed. "I'm sorry Ingrid." She then changed the subject. "Ariella, what about you? What are you interested in?"

Ingrid let her mind wander as Ariella talked about her art…

After dinner Mr. Third and Katherine went on a walk so Ingrid took Matthew up to her room. "Thank you for correcting your mom."

Matthew looked slightly confused.

"The whole Fillmore Anza thing. Thanks."

"Oh that. Sure, I just didn't want her to think something that wasn't true. But I can see how she made the mistake."

"You can?" Ingrid looked up from the photos she had been looking at.

Matthew looked a bit taken aback by her surprise. "Well yeah, I mean, I told her so many names and stuff."

Ingrid let out the breath that she hadn't realized she had been holding. "Oh that, I thought you meant…never mind."

There was silence for a minute before Matthew spoke. "What's that?" He picked up some of the files that Ingrid had left on her bed.

"Oh that. That's just what Fillmore and I were working on earlier. We were trying to find leads on the undercover case we're working on."

"Can I see them? Am I supposed to know about the case?"

Ingrid thought for a moment. "Not really, but I trust you. I think you can be ruled out as a suspect anyway. Besides, if you think you can help, then I'd like you to look at them."

Matthew picked up the files and flipped through them for a while. "Ingrid, I can't get much out of these but can I offer you a general suggestion?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Well if you remember when I tried to teach you how to spin a vase, I told you that you have to focus on the entire thing, not just one small part. Well that's not just for pottery, that's for everything. But on the other hand; sometimes you have to break things down in order to understand them. Many different elements can lead to the final product."

Anyone not quite as quick as Ingrid would have been confused. But she understood exactly what Matthew was saying. He was comparing crime solving to art, but what he said still held true. "Thanks Matthew. Ummm were you speaking from your experience in art or have you ever been involved in the safety patrol?"

"I never have been but I always thought it would be fun I-"

Just then they heard Mr. Third. "Matthew, you're mother is ready to leave."

"Well thanks for letting me hang out with you tonight."

Ingrid smiled, "no problem."

"That wasn't so bad was it?" Mr. Third asked after Katherine had left.

Not only did Ingrid not want to talk about Katherine, but she had something more important to do. She had an idea. "I have to call Vallejo."

"Vallejo?" Ariella questioned.

"Yes, and then Fillmore."

A/N: Okay, sort of a cliffie and I'm sorry to say that it will have to hold you for at least a week. Maybe two.


	7. Act VII: A New Patroller

**A/N: Okay, I lied; the last post didn't have to hold you for long. **

"So, you really don't mind?" Ingrid asked

"Of course not." Fillmore repeated for the hundredth time. "Heck, why would I mind? He wants to help."

Ingrid thought a moment. "As long as you're sure. He doesn't have any experience at it. He's got great logic skills but I don't know if that's enough. And you've never met him so-"

"Ingrid, do you think he can do it?"

"Yes," she was surprised by the certainty in her voice. "Yes, I think he can."

"Then that's all I need."

Ingrid smiled; she hadn't known how Fillmore would take the idea. "Alright, I'm going to call him and tell him the news."

"Okay, see ya Ingrid."

"Late." Ingrid hung up the phone. "Dad, what's Katherine's phone number?"

Mr. Third raised his eyebrows, "why?"

"I want to call Matthew; I've got something to tell him."

Mr. Third shrugged, he handed a piece of paper to Ingrid. She dialed the number and listened to the phone ring, hoping that Katherine didn't answer the phone.

"Hello? Delaney residence, this is Matthew."

Ingrid breathed a sigh of relief. "Matthew? This is Ingrid; I've got some good news for you."

"Really? What is it?"

"How would you like to be a temporary safety patrol member?" Ingrid asked, already knowing the answer.

"For real?" Matthew sounded as if he couldn't believe it.

"Yeah, I talked to Vallejo and then I called Fillmore. We're a little short at the patrol office. Fillmore and I are busy on the inside, but we need to have someone on the outside, someone not undercover. Someone who can be seen working the case in the office, someone that can interview suspects and hopefully break them down. You've got great logic; you're good at putting two things together and getting an answer. If you do a good job at this, Vallejo may offer you a permanent spot." Ingrid realized that she hadn't taken a breath throughout her explanation. "So, will you do it?"

"Of course I will. I've wanted to try this for so long. I can't believe that I'm actually gonna get the chance to be a safety patroller."

"I'm glad you're happy. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Wait, how am I supposed to know what to do?"

"Oh, right. Ummm can you go to HQ tomorrow morning at 7:00? I know it's early but I'll have to explain everything."

"Sure, I'll be there."

"Okay, I'll have to sneak in so you may have to wait outside the door for a couple minutes until I get there."

"Alright, see you tomorrow."

"Bye." Ingrid hung up the phone and went to help Ariella with the dishes.

Ingrid was waiting outside X. She had called Fillmore to have him meet her and Matthew. Right now she was alone.

"Hey Mindy, what's up?"

Ingrid turned around, she knew that voice. "Nothing much, _Brian._ Have you seen Matthew yet?"

"Nope, why does he need to be here so early?" Fillmore gave a yawn and rubbed his eyes.

"We learned how to be safety patrollers in a few days. He's got to learn in and hour."

Fillmore shrugged, "There he is." He pointed to a car pulling into the school lot.

Matthew walked up the steps, "Hey Ingrid, thanks again for giving me a chance. Hi Fillmore."

"No problem, but for now I'm Mindy and he's Brian, okay?"

"Sure, anyway, how are we getting in?" Matthew asked, pulling on the door handles and discovering they were locked.

Ingrid took out her school ID and after a few second they heard a small click.

Matthew turned to Fillmore, "where did she learn that?"

Fillmore shrugged, "she knew it when she came here."

Fillmore and Ingrid went inside and Matthew followed, still marveling over Ingrid's skill. They soon reached HQ and Fillmore pulled out a key.

"So this is it?" Matthew said, looking around HQ with wide eyes.

"Yep," Ingrid confirmed. "It's not very big or anything, but it works."

Fillmore nodded at Ingrid's statement. "Well, on to it then."

Ingrid and Fillmore spent a few minutes explaining the basics. The pros and cons of patrolling, the after school shift, designated jobs, when where and how to get in touch with them if he needed to, who to ask for help from, and finally how to do his job right. Most of the time was spent explaining what was needed of Matthew on this case. They even gave him some pointers on interviewing suspects.

"The trick is," Fillmore explained, "to never let them know exactly how much you know. You can bluff and pretend like you've got more then you do-"

"But you have to be careful when you do that. Don't get into details, in case you're wrong." Ingrid pointed out.

"That's right," Fillmore continued, "But you can also pretend like you don't know some of the things you do. This will give the perp a false sense of security."

"And if you're absolutely sure about something, but you don't have any evidence, be careful, you don't want to tip them off too soon." Ingrid finished with a piece of advice that probably would have served herself and Fillmore well if they ever bothered to use it.

Matthew nodded, "anything else?"

Ingrid thought for a moment, "Never let a suspect get under your skin." She shot a sideways glance at Fillmore.

He nodded, "that's gotten me into trouble a few times."

Matthew smiled, "Is that all?"

Fillmore and Ingrid looked at each other; then Ingrid spoke, "Rely on the rest of the safety patrol."

Fillmore nodded, "You're a team; back each other up."

**A/N: Okay, this one might actually have to hold you. I've got a busy week ahead. Sorry it was slow but it's there…**


	8. Act VIII: Never Kiss and Tell

A/N: Wow this took a long time. This story is so busy that not all the plot lines can be attended to in one post. But here you go. Hope you enjoy. Don't get all excited after reading this chapter, this story has a long way to go before everything works it's way out. Oh and SOMEONE in this chap makes a lil slip up. Whoever can point it out wins uhhhhhh I don't know a write in or something.

Ingrid's cheerleading practices were held everyday. But Fillmore's practices were only on Wednesday and Thursday. So he came to watch Ingrid on all the other days. At first Ingrid didn't like it. Fillmore was part of her new life and gymnastics was part of her old life. She hated mixing them. But Fillmore never commented on her being a cheerleader; the irony of it all. And he hadn't said a word about her appearance since that first day.

Life continued like that for a week. The case hadn't gotten anywhere despite all the leads. Everyday Fillmore and Ingrid would sit through average classes and go to practice. Then Fillmore would walk Ingrid home, holding hands for the act. Matthew would be at Ingrid's waiting to brief them on the case and ask them questions. Somewhere in the space between Matthew leaving and Ingrid going to bed Anza would call. He would ask all sorts of questions, one after another.

"How's the case? How are you and Fillmore holding up? I like your new hair. Why don't you ever call? Having fun as a cheerleader? How much longer will the case take?"

At first Ingrid didn't mind but since the calls came every night she became annoyed. "Why are we going out?" She asked herself one night before realizing it was a horrible thing to say.

Finally, Matthew showed up at Ingrid's practice one day.

"Are you in charge?" He asked, tapping her on the shoulder.

"Yes, I'm Mindy Thompson, head cheerleader. Is there a problem Officer..."

"Delaney," he filled in. He knew Ingrid had to play dumb because the whole team was watching and listening. "I need to talk to Tandi, Libby, Debbie, Samantha, and Cindy." Ingrid was slightly surprised by this odd assortment but she shrugged and turned toward the squad.

"This is Officer Matthew Delaney. He wants to talk to Tandi, Libby, Debbie, Samantha, and Cindy."

The girls whose names had been called stepped forward and followed Matthew to a small room just off the gym. Ingrid had the rest of the girls work on sideline cheers while she talked to Fillmore.

After about 20 minutes Matthew emerged followed by the girls he had been questioning. He left without saying anything. Ingrid called everyone to the center of the gym.

"This was a great practice and you all worked really hard. But there are only a few minutes and I don't want to start anything new, what do you guys want to do?"

"Let's play a game!" Jamie shouted

Ingrid raised her eyebrows, "what kind of game?"

"Truth and Dare," came from the back of the group but Ingrid didn't know who said it.

"That's a great idea!" Jamie agreed. "It's just like Truth or Dare, but you have to do both."

Ingrid shrugged, "Okay, let's play."

After a few simple dares and boring truths, it was Ingrid's turn.

Teresa turned to her, "Mindy, have you ever kissed Brian?"

Ingrid flushed a light shade of pink. "No," she said, hesitantly, predicting her dare. For now she was thankful that Fillmore was out of earshot.

"Your dare," Teresa gave a dramatic pause, "Is to go kiss Brian right now."

"Teresa! You can't dare her to do that!" Chloe tried to ride to Ingrid's rescue.

"Of course I can; it's part of the game. Go on Mindy."

Ingrid looked around hopelessly before rising slowly. How was she going to do this? There was no way out, what could she do? "It's for the job." She thought to herself. "It doesn't count, it doesn't mean anything." She reached Fillmore and calmly leaned over to whisper in his ear.

"Fillmore, I don't have a choice. It's for the case, I'll explain later." She pulled away and hesitated for only a few seconds.

Fillmore was perplexed but only for a moment because Ingrid leaning towards him was pretty self explanatory.

It didn't last very long, but it was different than what they had expected. Ingrid blushed momentarily with no reason. There was nothing romantic between them, there had never been before. So why wasn't the kiss empty? Was it because it had been shared between friends? Was it the act they had been putting on? Was it the "ooooo's" and "ahhhhhh's" of the cheerleaders? The fact that they were being watched? Whatever the reason, there was something there. They didn't know what, but there was something.

"That's enough practice for today," Ingrid said, snapping back to reality. After everyone had gone she looked at Fillmore. "Brian I-"

He shook his head. "We'll talk later, we need to get to your house.

Ingrid nodded and took his hand. They didn't know it but they were being watched.

"So what have you got for us?" Fillmore, Ingrid, and Matthew were sitting in Ingrid's room at 5:00.

"Well," Matthew took out his notes, "Well, Debbie, Libby, and Cindy, I couldn't find a motive for. But I have a couple of questions about Samantha. For one, why is she a cheerleader? She was so shy and timid when I interviewed her."

"The guilty ones usually are," Fillmore commented.

"No, she's always like that. I think she was forced into cheering." Ingrid said. "In fact she told me one that her mother made her because she thought it would help her people skills."

"I think that's a motive, I'll check into it." Matthew made a note on his paper. "Tandi, she's pretty outgoing right?"

"Yeah, she was like a captain until I showed up." Ingrid remembered Tandi's reaction the first day she came. "You don't think she did it though?"

"I think she could have," Matthew said. "She's put in an application to be captain three times and every time she got denied.

Fillmore raised his eyebrows, "when were the requests submitted?"

"Two were when Katie was still the captain. The other was submitted just before we decided to send Ingrid."

"So what's the connection?" Ingrid asked.

"Her application rejections coincide with the times other squads started popping up with our cheers."

Ingrid shook her head, "maybe she was framed."

"The only other suspect so far is Samantha." Fillmore pointed out.

After discussing whether or not Samantha could pull of such an elaborate hoax Matthew left.

"Wanna play cards?" Fillmore asked.

"Sure," Ingrid agreed. "But, I get to deal. Just because we're friends doesn't mean I'll let you cheat at cards."

Fillmore laughed, you don't mind when we play double against the rest of the patrol." Fillmore pointed out, smiling.

"When we play doubles I win. I don't like to lose."

They had barely gotten out the cards and dealt them when the phone in Ingrid's room rang. Ingrid sighed and got up to answer it.

"Hello?"

Ingrid, I need to talk to you, are you by yourself?"

"Joe? Yeah my dad's at a meeting and my sister's shopping. Fillmore and I are just playing cards."

"Fillmore's there without your dad?"

"Yeah, we do this all the time, Joe."

Fillmore got Ingrid's attention and made a sign, asking if he should leave. Ingrid shook her head no and Fillmore sat back down.

"So what did you want to talk about?"

"I saw you today, Ingrid."

"Where?"

"Your cheerleading practice."

Ingrid's heart skipped a beat and she asked a question, already knowing the answer. "When?"

"You know when Ingrid."

"Joseph I-"

"Was it for the case?"

"What? Of course it was! I didn't have a choice."

"Did you feel anything?"

Ingrid was silent for a moment, thinking of how to express what it had been.

"Ingrid?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you feel anything?"

"No," she lied. "Of course I didn't. Come one Joseph, it's Fillmore." She wasn't sure if she was trying to convince him or herself. "It was for the case, I had no choice."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course," Ingrid Third hated lying. Right now she had to lie to everyone. She was undercover, lying to her boyfriend, lying to the squad, and lying to herself.

"I've got to go, Ingrid. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye Joseph."

Ingrid hung up the phone and turned to Fillmore. She relayed her story to him and they played cards.

"So you told it was nothing, right?" Fillmore asked, after winning the fifth hand in a row.

"Yes." There was an odd silence as if each was trying to figure out what to say.

"This assignment is crazy, Ingrid. Could you imagine us together?"

Ingrid broke into a rare smile, "I think I know you to well." She said shaking her head. And as if to prove her point she reached over and grabbed his arm. She stuck her hand just far enough up his long sleeved shirt to pull out a stack of cards he'd been stashing. They laughed, and waited for Ariella to come so she could take Fillmore home.

Laying in bed that night Fillmore thought to himself. "It wasn't empty. There was something there. But what was it?

A/N: Okay, there you go hope you like it!


	9. Act IX: Plans for Saturday

A/N: Okay, wow, that was a short wait. Hope you like this, even if I think it's a little slow. The next chap will have a lot of Katherine and Anza. But it's the chapter after that you'll really like. So here you go.

They didn't think about it anymore. They didn't have time to think about it. Fillmore was too busy preparing for sectionals and Ingrid was busy making a fake routine. She was trying to bait whoever the mole was into the crime so they would be caught. Being a cheerleader was starting to get one her nerves.

Two days after their "incident" Ingrid showed up at Fillmore practice.

"Hey Mindy!" That was the entire football team.

"Hey guys" Ingrid gave a girly wave and put on her high pitched, peppy voice. Nauseating. "Where's Brian"

"Right behind you" Ken, the running back pointed out.

Ingrid spun around and came face to face with Fillmore. "Let's walk" she suggested.

"Is everything okay? You're supposed to have practice, it's Thursday."

"Everything's fine. I gave the girl's the day off. They needed rest."

By this time they were out of earshot. "Ingrid Third, worried about the cheerleaders needing a break? This is a first."

Ingrid nudged him. "It's no big deal."

Fillmore raised his eyebrows before changing the subject. "Have you been questioned by Delaney yet"

Ingrid smiled"Yeah, he came to practice yesterday and got the other cheerleaders and myself. Of course, you would have known that if you had been to the briefing yesterday."

Fillmore laughed"sorry about that. I had to retake that geography test yesterday after practice."

"It's ok, but you'll be there today right"

"Of course, why don't you hang around until I get done here"

"Sure."

They were back at the bleachers now and the football team was there, taking a timeout. "You think we could get back to practice" Chris asked Fillmore. "You are the captain, so we waited for you."

"Yeah, we need to get started again, do you guys mind if Mindy hangs around"

"Of course not, we all love Mindy, right guys"

There was a general chorus of "yeahs" from the team.

"Well, back to it." Fillmore put his helmet back on as Ingrid settled herself onto the bleachers.

"She's good" she thought to herself. "If he weren't always patrolling he might go out for the team."

"Bye Matthew thanks for dropping these off." Ingrid closed the door and walked into her living room. She flopped on the couch next to Fillmore, dumping the papers in his lap.

"What's up with Matthew?" Fillmore asked, flipping through the notes.

He has other plans. Tehama was going to show him how to fingerprint."

Fillmore looked up; didn't you have to bribe her with a candy bar for the same lesson during the custard case?

Ingrid nodded

Fillmore raised his eyebrows"another patrol couple"

Ingrid shrugged"Maybe."

There was a pause as Fillmore flipped through the notes again.

"Okay" he began. "Teresa"

"Has no motive." Ingrid cut in.

"Libby has an"

"Obsession with accessories, but other than that, nothing."

Fillmore sighed"When did you get a chance to read this"

"When Matthew gave them to me."

"Your photographic memory works on handwriting?

"Yes but it takes a little bit longer. Because I have to comprehend what I'm reading. That means I have to actually read the handwriting rather than just glancing at typed words."

Fillmore nodded"Alright, then break it down for me."

"Well Sam has a motive; we talked about how she was forced into cheering yesterday. Libby's got nothing. But that's no surprise. She loves cheering. Her mother won the cheer off, her twin sister's were on X's team when they won, it's a tradition. Tandi's got those three rejections of course. And then there's Debbie-"

"Please," Fillmore interrupted. "Please, not Debbie again."

"I just think we should keep an eye on her."

Ingrid went on to explain to Fillmore the situations of the rest of the girls. Suddenly, someone knocked on the door.

Ingrid opened the door, "Joseph, what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to bring you something. Can I come in?"

Ingrid hesitated for a minute.

"No one's home, are they?" Anza stood there, waiting.

Ingrid shook her head. "No, they're not. But come on in, it'll be okay for a few minutes."

She let him in and led him over to the couch. Fillmore immediately stood up.

"Hey Anza,"

"Hey Fillmore," Anza spoke only slightly coolly.

Fillmore turned to Ingrid, "I think I left something up in your room."

Anza immediately turned to Fillmore upon hearing this.

Ingrid jumped in, "Ummm, yeah, your history book is on my shelf."

Fillmore nodded and made his way upstairs.

"So," Ingrid turned to Anza. "We don't have a lot of time."

He nodded, "I wanted to give you this." He handed her a brown bag which she opened. She found it contained a short, glossy, black wig.

"Joe, it looks just like my hair but, what's it for?"

"I wanna take you out Saturday night, but I know that you're afraid the cheerleaders will find you. So wear this, and your normal clothes, and I'll take you out to dinner."

Ingrid nodded, suddenly recalling why they were dating. "Is it a special occasion?"

Anza shook his head. "No, I just thought it would be cool. I never get to see you anymore. You're always with Fillmore." He added, "Working on the case," as an afterthought when he saw the look on Ingrid's face.

"I'm sorry about that," Ingrid said.

Anza contemplated saying, "are you sure about that?" But he decided not to.

"Joe, I don't want to rush you away but my dad-"

"I know," Anza nodded. "Can I ask you something, though? What's the difference between me and Fillmore? He's allowed to be here alone with you but I can't.

Ingrid thought for a moment, how was she supposed to answer this? "Well, Fillmore's always been here. He's sort of like part of the family." She shrugged, "we never actually asked, but my dad knows and he doesn't mind. That's just how it's always been."

"And me?" he asked.

"It's just...different. I can't explain it. That's just how it has to be."

He nodded, "I better go."

He left without saying goodbye to Fillmore who was heading downstairs.

"What's up? You guys didn't break up, did you?"

Ingrid sighed, "No, we're going out Saturday night." She held up the wig.

"Wow," Fillmore couldn't think of anything else to say. "Well, I'm going to go home."

"Okay," Ariella will drive you if you wait.

"It's only about two blocks; I don't why she drives me all the time."

Ingrid shrugged, "Alright, see you tomorrow."

A/N: Okay, I've got rough ideas on how the next two chaps are gonna go, so I hope you're ready. Reviews please!


	10. Act X: Double the Dates

A/N: Okay, thank lyou guys for waitng so patiently. In case you wondered. The slip I was refering to a couple of chapters ago was when Matthew was talking to "Mindy" at practice. When "Mindy" asked for his name he saidOfficer Delaney.She then turned to the squad and introduced him as _Matthew _Delaney. Not that big, but if a cheerleader heard her then...

Well here we go...

Ingrid sat at her kitchen table; reading. Suddenly, Ariella dropped a box of spaghetti in front of her. "How's pasta sound?"

Ingrid looked at Ariella questioningly, "What do you mean?"

"For dinner, is pasta okay?"

That's when Ingrid realized, she had forgotten to tell Ariella about Anza. "I can't be here. I have plans for dinner tonight with Joe."

Ariella raised her eyebrows in surprise and not just the surprise of not being told sooner. "You do?"

"Um yeah, why?"

Ariella regained her composure, "No reason. What time is he coming to get you?"

"Around six."

"Uh Ingrid, not to startle you, but it's already 5:45."

Ingrid's eyes darted to the clock, it was a quarter till. "Crackers!" She jumped up and ran upstairs to her room, slamming the door.

Just then, the doorbell rang. "Who is it?" Ariella asked, already knowing the answer.

"It's Fillmore," Ariella opened the door and Fillmore stepped inside. "Is Ingrid here?"

"Yeah but not for long, she's going out with Joseph tonight."

"Oh snaps! I forgot about that. I guess I'll just call her later." He turned to leave but before he could Ingrid had come downstairs.

"Fillmore? What are you doing here?"

"I was gonna see if you wanted to go to the arcade, but that was before I remembered it was Saturday and you had a date."

Ingrid nodded, for once she didn't know what to say and she didn't know why. Finally, she decided on, "So I'll call you when I get back."

"Yeah, okay. I'll talk to you later. See ya Ingrid."

"Bye Fillmore."

Ariella closed the door smiling slightly and shaking her head.

Ingrid caught it, "What?"

"It's nothing," Ariella tried and failed to quit smiling.

"It's something; I intend to find out when I get back later. I don't have time to talk now I-"

But she was cut off as the door opened and her father walked in.

"Hey Dad. Ingrid's going to be gone tonight so it's just the two of us. What do you want me to fix?"

"I'm sorry Ariella; I have a date with Katherine tonight. So I won't be home."

Ariella sighed good naturedly, "That's okay, I'll see you guys when you get home. I'm gonna go work on some homework."

"And I've got to go get ready. Have a nice evening Ingrid." Mr. Third kissed her forehead and made his way down the hall to his room.

Ingrid sat on the coouch and before she had a chance to relax the doorbell rang. "I'm leaving, Joseph's here," she called to no one in particular. She opened the door and stepped outside.

"Ingrid, you look great." Anza held out a white rose which Ingrid-dressed in a black skirt and a green sweater-accepted.

"Thank you," she said, taking the arm that Anza had offered. "So where are we going, Joe?"

"Well, there's a restaurant I was going to take you to and after that whatever you want. We can walk in the park or go see a movie."

Across town at an Italian restaurant a woman with red hair and freckles sat across from a man with black hair and glasses. The had already talked about almost everytyhing and the conversation had turned to their children.

"I can't thank Ingrid enough for getting Matthew involved in this case. It's something he's always wanted."

"It's no problem, Ingrid apparently thought he could help."

Katherine shrugged slightly, "Will you thank her anyway. I would but she doesn't seem to like me much."

Mr. Third shook his head. "She has nothing against you as a person. It's just that Ingrid deals with logic and facts. Even her job at the Safety Patrol; it's black and white. There's not gray area. She's got to deal with solid facts, not emotions. You're an artist and she thinks it's impractical. So she doesn't mind us as friends but other than that..." He paused for a minute, how could he explain Ingrid? He decided to push on, trying his best. "I think she always pictured me either alone or with someone very level headed, practical, like that Miss Baxter I was with for a while."

Katherine nodded, still slightly confused. "I think I'll try to talk to her again. She and Matthew get along so well. He says so many great things about her. I want to get to know her too."

"I think tomorrow night is a good night."

"Aren't we going out tomorrow?" Katherine raised her eyebrows.

"Yes, but before that, she's not doing anything and she's been so busy lately that I'm not sure when else we'll catch her. Tomorrow I think she's planning on lrenting movies and watching them with Fillmore."

"Fillmore, that's not Ingrid's boyfriend, is it?"

"No, Joseph Anza is her boyfriend. Fillmore is her best friend, you haven't met him yet."

Katherine nodded and they continued their evening.

They were leaving the park after a nice walk. The air was crisp and just cool enough that Anza had offered Ingrid his jacket. Partly because she thought refusing it would be rude and partly because she thought it was a nice gesture she accepted it.

"Did you have fun tonight?" Anza asked as they neared Ingrid's house.

"It was great," Ingrid looked at her ever so slightly withering rose. "It was great of you to plan this."

"We should do this more often, Ingrid. This is only our third date."

Ingrid sighed, "Joe, stop it. I don't want to argue with you, I'm busy and you're busy. Tonight was great and I wish we could do it more often."

Anza looked up with raised eyebrows, "really?"

"What do you mean 'really'? Of course I wish we could see each other more."

Anza's lips hit Ingrid's. There shge was, kissing her actual boyfriend for the first time. He was the second boy she'd ever kissed and he was good at it. It felt so...

"Hey Fillmore"

"Hey Ingrid, I was waiting for your call. I think we may have been going about this investigation wrong. We always just assumed that the perps wanted X to lose. But maybe they just wanted someone else to _win."_

"Well if we don't win someone else obviously will."

"Ingrid, maybe they wanted a specific team to win."

"Crackers! We need to know everyone on the squad's connections to the other teams. Maybe it's their parents or sibs alumni schools or their aunt or uncle has a job there. People willl do anything for family."

"We'll have Matthew check into it tomorrow."

Ingrid nodded before remembering Fillmore couldn't see her. "So how was the arcade?"

"I didn't go. What fun is an arcade without anyone to beat?"

"Fillmore, the only game you beat me at is the one where you stomp on flashing lights."

"You're not supposed to stomp on them, Ingrid. It's supposed to be like dancing."

"That's obviously why you win."

They laughed and there was a silence. Finally Fillmore spoke, "So how was your night."

"It was actually great until the end."

"What happened?"

There was a long pause as Ingrid tried to decide what to say.

"You don't have to tell me, Ingrid."

"No, it's not a big deal. It was just a goodnight kiss."

Fillmore winced without reason but quickly recovered. "Bad kisser right?" He said, trying to lighten the mood.

Ingrid smiled slightly. "Definately not."

Another wince from Fillmore.

"It was just so..." She thought for a minute, how could she say this? How could she tell Fillmore that Anza had been a great kisser but she hadn't felt a thing. "It was just, empty."


	11. Act XI: A Proposal Sealed With A Kiss

"So you guys said you had an angle on the case?" Matthew dropped a stack of files on Ingrid's coffee table.

"Matthew," Fillmore began instead of answering his question. "Who is the one person you always take your problems to?"

"My mom, I guess."

"Why?"

Matthew turned toward Ingrid for help. She silently encouraged him to answer.

"Um, because I know she'll always help me."

"Why will she always help?"

Matthew looked thoroughly confused. "Because she's my mom."

"Exactly," Ingrid stepped in. "People will do anything for family."

"Even throw a competition," Fillmore finished.

Matthew rubbed his temples. " So what you're saying is, one of these girls has a family connection with someone in another middle school? That could be _all_ of them."

"But you'll check right?"

"That's what you put me here for. But I'll need to get some information at school tomorrow. My mom's going to be here soon anyway."

"Matthew, why don't you just stay here with Ingrid and me?"

"Yeah, we're just going to watch videos we rented. Ariella's going to be here so why don't you stay? It'll be fun."

"Really?" Matthew looked from Ingrid to Fillmore.

"Yeah, you always come over and help us then leave. You should stick around more often. Besides, your mom is going out with my dad tonight so she can pick you up after they come back."

Matthew nodded, "Okay, what are we watching?"

Filllmore passed him the tapes. "We've got one horror movie and one comedy."

"Awesome, I-"

The doorbell rang, "I'll get it," Ingrid got up and opened the door. "Hello Katherine. Come on in."

Katherine came in and Ingrid shut the door. "I came for Matthew," she explained.

"Actually Katherine, we were wondering if Matthew could hang out with us tonight. Fillmore and I are oing to be watching movies."

Katherine nodded, "that's very kind of you Ingrid. Of course he can stay. Can I talk to you though?"

Ingrid nodded, "do you wanna go up to my room or stay here?"

Katherine glanced at Matthew and Fillmore, sitting in the living room. "I think your room would be the best."

Ingrid led Katherine up to her room and closed the door. ingrid sat on her bed and Katherine took the window seat. For a while no one spoke. "What can she possibly want to say to me?" Ingrid wondered. Finally, Katherine cleared her throat and spoke.

"I wanted yto thank you for allowing Matthew to help you on the case. He loves it."

Ingrid shrugged slightly. "It's no problem, Katherine. He's good."

There was silence.

"Is there something else you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Ingrid, do you dislike me?"

Ingrid was a bit surprised but she didn't show it. She thought for a moment. Did she dislike Katherine? Not really. What she fealt wasn't dislike, it was, something else. Finally she spoke. "No, not really."

"You're father tried to explain you to me. He said that you're job made you block out emotions. He talked about how for you everything is black and white. There's no gray place for interpretation and he said you thought me being an artist was impractical. He told me that you don't think I'm right for him."

It took a moment for Ingrid to process everything Katherine had just said. Once she had she realized how much her father had gotten wrong. She shook her head. "I _do _use facts and logic. But everything else is wrong. You can _not _block out your emotions. In fact, Fillmore and I use them to solve cases all the time. And there is _always_ a gray area and room for interpretation. As for you and my dad go, I can't make choices for him. At first I didn't think you were right for him as anything but a friend but it's not my life. So, if my dad thinks your good for him then I agree."

"So you're okay with all this?"

'Why does she want my opinion all of a sudden?' Ingrid wondered. "Sure, I'm fine."

Katherine got up to leave and Ingrid followed. By the time she got downstairs Ariella had taken a seat ian a chair.Ingrid sat down between Fillmore and Matthew. "I''ll explain later," she whispered to Fillmore's unasked question."

"Everyone gather in the kitchen please." Mr. Third and Katherine had just come home from their date. Everyone shuffled from the living room to the kitchen and sat around the table.

"Do you want me to leave, Mr. Third?" Fillmore asked, sensing a family meeting.

"No Fillmore, you're practically part of the family. Stay."

So Fillmore sat next to Ingrid, trying to figure out what was going on. He looke at Ingrid questioningly but her look said that she was in the dark.

Mr. Third cleared his throat. "Well, I don't really know how to tell everyone this so..." He turned to Katherine, "show them."

Katherine took her hand out of her pocket, revealing a diamond ring. "We're getting married!" She announced; beaming.

Ariella forced a smile, "Congratulations."

"That's great mom," Matthew faked enthusiasim.

Ingrid, who had been to shocked to do anything at first, recovered. "What?"

Ariella nudged her sister slightly. Ingrid shot her a why-didn't-you-back-me-up look before standing. "You can _not _be serious." And with that she went outside; slamming the door.

Ariella stood up, "I'll get her."

"No Ariella, she can't keep acting this way, I'll get her."

"Mr. Third," Fillmore intervened. "I know that she's your daughter but I think that she may need to talk right now. And I'm not sure she'ss talk to you."

Mr. Third comtemplated for a moment. "Okay Fillmore, you're probably right. I'm not her favorite person right now."

Fillmore got up and walked to the door. Before he opened it he turned around and went back to the kitchen. "She may want to take a walk," he explained, grabbing a flashlight.

Mr. Third nodded, "not too far though. It's pretty dark."

"Okay," again Fillmore headed to the door. He opened it to find Ingrid sitting on the ledge of her porch. "Hey," he said. He didn't move any closer than right outside the door.

"If my dad sent you out here to get me, forget it."

Fillmore shook his head, "he didn't send me. He was going to come out but I told him that you'd probably talk to me more."

She was silent. She didn't want to talk to anyone. "If you're going to give me a lecture about how I'm being selfish or stupid or-"

"I'm not," Fillmore interrupted.

"Then what are you going to say?"

Fillmore shrugged. "Maybe I'll just listen. No one seems to do that anymore."

Ingrid who had been looking at the ground, looked up and smiled.

Finally, Fillmore sat down beside her.

"Do you wanna take a walk?" he asked; presenting the flashlight.

"Yeah."

Fillmore clicked on the light and theywalked to the sidewalk. "Where do you wanna go?"

Ingrid shrugged, "I don't care, anywhere."

So they walked; in silence at first but then Ingrid spoke. "Don't you think they're rushing it?" She siad angrily. "They just started dating and now they're getting married!"

Fillmore didn't answer, he wasn't sure he was supposed.

"Fillmore? I want your opinion do you think they're rushing it?"

Fillmore thought, "they are if they just met. But if they knew each other a long time before they started dating then maybe it's okay."

Ingrid looked at him a minute, "not you too, Fillmore. You can't think this is right."

"Ingrid, if they've known each other then it doesn't matter how long they've been going out. Maybe they just know."

"Fillmore, you can't just _know_."

Fillmore looked at Ingrid, they were back at the corner of her street. Suddenly they both stopped walking. "You don't think so?"

"No not so soon."

"But after a while, things happen Ingrid."

"Yeah, I guess they do."

And that's when it happened. Ingrid found herself in the same position she had been in the night before. But this was a different guy, the wrong guy. She wasn't supposed to kiss him. But it was better this way and she realized it now. This was how it should be. The very first guy she kissed, the only one she had such feelings for. But reality smacked her in the face as it often does and she pulled away.

"I shouldn't have done that."

Fillmore shook his head, "it was my fault. I know you and Anza are together. I don't know what happened."

"I-I need to think."

Fillmore nodded, "I'll go home. And Ingrid, I'm sorry."

But this time Ingrid shook her head. "Don't be.

Ariella was drawing in her sketch pad when there was a knock on her door. "Come on in Ingrid."

"How did you know it was me?" She entered and closed the door.

"I know how you knock. I bet I even know what you want."

Ingrid sighed, "It's not about Katherine."

"I didn't think it was."

"Last night Joe and I had a date,"Ingrid began; plopping on her sister's bed.

"And you kissed him." Ariella continued.

Ingrid nodded, not even wondering how Ariella knew this.

"And you didn't like it."

"I did," Ingrid began. "It was just so empty, like there was nothing there."

Ariella nodded understandingly. "Well I think-"

"That's not all," Ingrid rushed on. "I think I made a mistake, I-"

"You kissed Fillmore, didn't you?" Ariella already knew what happened, she had predicted it, she wondered what took it so long.

Ingrid looked at the ground before nodding. "Yes, and it was much better. There was just, _something_ there." She paused and looked at Ariella. "What am I supposed to do now? I'm going out with Anza."

"You've got to talk to Fillmore first. You two need to know exactly what happened and why and you've got to know exactly how you feel. Then talk to Anza. No one can figure out what you want but you."

Ingrid sighed. "Talking to Anza's going to be hard. He expected this, I know he did."

Ariella nodded, holding back a slight smile.

"You knew. You knew all along this was going to happen."

Ariella tried to look innocent but smiled and nodded. "This case is one of the best things that could happen to you, Ingrid."

For a moment Ingrid gave her sister a questioning gaze. "Are you saying that I should-"

"I'm not saying anything, this is between you, Fillmore, and Anza."

"But you want me to-"

"I want you to do what you think is right."

Ingrid sighed and leaned back. What had she gotten herself into?


	12. Act XII: Green Eyes and Carmen

A/N: Don't even ask why it's so late, I don't have a good reason, but I do want to say thanks for all the reviews. And I wanted to apologize profusly (sp?) for the lateness, I feel awful. Here you are...

"We're getting nowhere!" Fillmore flung the papers down on Ingrid's bed. Matthew had been sick that day. That meant that he hadn't been able to look up any family connections between the cheerleaders and other schools, that meant that Ingrid and Fillmore were stuck pouring over the same old information and running out of time.

Ingrid was staring blankly at the wall. None of the girls acted as if they knew anything. There was nothing, absolutely nothing, to help them out.

Fillmore looked at her, "Any gut feelings?"

"None. There's no one who seems guilty."

They were silent, there was a strange tension in the room. One of two things was goingto happen. One of them was a long sappy talk about what had happened between them. The other thing was a fight. Everything depended on what happened next. Someone had to say something.

"So have you talked to Anza about what happened?" Bad idea.

Ingrid turned to him with a disbelieving look on her face. "Why do you ask questions you already know the answer to?" A nerve had been touched and her voice was cold. She simply wasn't ready to talk about this.

"Sorry, I'd just like to know, what's going on in my life." Fillmore spoke just as coldly, something had made him suddenly angry.

"So, now it's _you're _life? What about Anza?"

"That's what I'm asking, Ingrid. I thought _you _of all people would be put together enough to know what's happening."

"Well I wasn't, I haven't talked to him yet. Ariella said to talk to you first and-"

"You told Ariella? Do you tell her everything?"

"I needed help. I had to talk to someone."

"You could have talked to me."

"I'm trying! It's not working out to well, is it, Cornelius?" She stared at him with her icy green eyes.

Fillmore couldn't take it, he didn't mind that she had called him Cornelius. But it was her eyes, he'd seen that look pleanty of times. She used it on people she was extremely mad at. She looked at Brad Parnassis that way, she looked at perps that way. But never, _never_ had she looked at him that way.

He sighed, "Ingrid."

There was no response.

"Don't look at me that way."

She stared on; ignoring him.

"Ingrid, please, don't do that."

She stopped, there was something in his voice that was almost a plee. Her eyes softened, she thought for a minute. "I'm sorry, Fillmore. I probably shouldn't have told Ariella."

Fillmore shook his head, "No, I'm sorry. You had every right to ask for help, this is my fault anyway."

"It's my fault too. Besides, we have to talk about it. Ariella said we needed to."

"What does she suggest we do?"

Ingrid rolled her eyes, "That's just it. She won't make a suggestion. I _think _she was hinting but I'm not sure."

"Well, what are we supposed to talk about?"

"She says we need to figure out what happened, why, how we feel, and what we're gonna do."

There was silence before Fillmoe answered, "that's a lot to talk about."

Ingrid nodded, "So, what do you think it was? The cause, I mean."

Fillmore shrugged, "the moonlight," he joked.

Ingrid smiled, "maybe it was a mistake."

"It could be, or maybe it was just the circumstances." He smiled mischieviously, "We could try again and see."

"We're in enough trouble already. We need to get in touch with our emotions and figure out what we want."

Fillmore nodded, "you've got the most to lose. What do you want to do?"

Ingrid thought for a long time. "I can't see Anza anymore. I should have ended it a long time ago." She was talking to herself but Fillmore heard her.

"What about us?" Fillmore asked.

Ingrid shook her head, "now it's your turn, what do you want?"

Fillmore's face felt warm and he new that if his skin weren't a dark brown it would be red. "I'm happy about what happened, if that's what you mean. But I don't think right now is a good time for anything to come from it."

Ingrid nodded, "I think you're right." Of course he was right. Nothing could happen now, maybe ever. What was supposed to happen? One kiss and suddenly they were together? It reminded her of one of those sappy movies that girls at school were always chatting about. And yet, she felt a slight drop in her stomach. But she could dwell on it, the phone was ringing.

"Hello?" She never said 'Third residence' because it was her own private line.

"Hello, Ingrid."

At first Ingrid Ingrid didn't recognize the voice. "Matthew? Are you okay? You sound strange."

"I've just got a cold, I'm fine. Now, grab a pencil and paper, I went in after school today and picked up the girls' files."

Ingrid smiled, "Matthew, you're the best. Okay, I'm ready."

Matthew sneezed and blew his nose. "Okay, Debbie's parents both went to that private, gifted school across town."

"Einstein Academy? That's X's biggest rival."

"I know, but there's more. Sam's aunt is the principal at Mountainside Middle School. Chloe's great-grandfather helped build and found Ben Franklin Jr. High. Teresa's sister went to that preforming arts school, Marilyn Monroe Middle School, and so did Teresa, for a while. And Tandi's cousin bounced between all of them before ending up at St. Mary's K-12 school.

Ingrid thought for a moment, "At least it's not _everyone_."

"Nope, just Debbie, Teresa, Tandi, Chloe, and Sam; half the team. You already had suspicions about Debbie, Tandi, and Sam. I'd start there."

"Thanks Matthew, I'll call you back later." She hung up and turned to Fillmore. She handed him the paper and explained everything on it. "I need to move this along, competition is coming up."

"So spend more time with them."

"How?"

"Do something a normal girl would do."

"Like what?" What _did _other girls do? They gossiped, watched bad movies, put on make-up, got their hair done, got a manicure. She grimaced, she couldn't do any of that. There had to be _something _she could bare.

"Go shopping," Fillmore volunteered. "Carmen loved that, went once a week."

Ingrid raised her eyebrows, "Carmen. I'm sorry, but I don't recall a Carmen in any stories. Gina was your cousin, Lauren was a girl who followed you around, trying to get you to notice her. And then Clarissa tried to get you to change. But Carmen?"

Fillmore laughed, "Carmen was a long time ago, don't worry."

"I'm not worried, I just wonder why you never told me about her." She pressed forward, "So, what was she? A girlfriend, a crush-"

"A girlfriend, she moved right before you showed up. Two weeks before Wayne left. She was my first girlfriend after I gave up being a thug."

"Sounds serious."

"Not really," he shrugged. "It's only 7th grade. nothing too serious."

Something didn't sit right with Ingrid. "Then why didn't you tell me about her?"

"I just did. Now, about you. Take the squad to the mall on a shopping day. And then invite them over afterwards..."

Fillmore went on for a while, carefully avoiding the subject of Carmen. He hoped Ingrid wouldn't notice but was sure she did. She was just too smart. Finally, when he left he had an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach. He was confused about everything. Why had he brought up Carmen and why did it matter? Why had Ingrid and he gotten into such an argument. Those eyes, those green eyes, which he loved to watch because in Ingrid's case they really were the window to her soul. The way those eyes had stared so coldly at him; he felt awful. He shook the image out of his head, not wanting to dwell on it. Why had Ingrid decided to break up with Anza? Would they ever get together? Did they really want to? Back in Ingrid's room, when they were actually working on the case, he'd felt great. He forgot about the kiss and everything else. All he could think about was the case, solving the case, and Ingrid. He and Ingrid made such a great team. They played off each other's strengths and covered up each other's weaknesses. Their friendship made it even better. Could they ever be like that again? If something happened between them would everything change? They were such a great team. Actually, they were perfect together; as friends, as partners, as detectives, but as a couple? He took a deep breath and tried to clear his thoughts. He just couldn't be sure that things wouldn't have to change. Before this assignment all he wanted to do was survive school, hang out with Ingrid, spend time with his family, and solve a case. Now, he didn't know. He didn't know anything anymore.

A/N: Okay, there you are, hope you like it, I swear the next chap. won't take that long.


	13. Act XIII: The Breakup

A/N: Okay, this took a little longer than I was planning. Not to write, just to get started. I couldn't decide if I wanted the breakup or the sleepover first. Anyway I figured it out. Here you go. Thanks again to all my reviewers.

It wasn't pretty, that was for sure. And it was a lot harder than she thought it would be. Ingrids had planned what she was going to say. She ran the lines in her head and everything. She thought it would be simple. But the second she saw him, saw his silver eyes and black hair, and that hopeful look on his face; she forgot her lines.

"Hey Ingrid, you want to go out again this weekend?" He gave her a smile.

She loved that smile, but she shook away that thought. "Anza, can I talk to you, outside? In the courtyard." She called him 'Anza,' that hadn't happened for a while, not since he asked her out. Gosh, that was a while ago. Three months? That sounded right...

_He had come up to her desk where she was doing paperwork, he'd mummbled something._

_"Ill ew o out wif ee?"_

_She'd replied, as any normal person would. "Excuse me? I didn't quite catch that Anza."_

_He'd blushed slightly, taken a deep breath and started over. "Will you go out with me?"_

_Ingrid had dropped her pencil and stared at him a moment. Anza was good looking and popular. He could have almost any girl he wanted. Why her? _

_That's when Fillmore had come up behind Anza, giving him a pat on the back."Hey, you finally asked her! Great job, man." He'd then spotted Ingrid, mouth open searching for answers, and came to her rescue. "Come on Ingrid, you know it and I know it._

_Ingrid closed her mouth and looked at Anza. "Yes."_

She was having the same problem finding words now. They had reached the courtyard now. Anza was looking at her expectantly just like before. And just like back then she knew _what _she wanted to say she just didn't know _how _to say it.

"Ingrid? Is ther something you wanted to say?" He didn't sound impatient, just a little worried.

Ingrid looked at the ground for a long time before looking at him. "Anza, I-we-umm..." She took a breath, that was when she realized she was nervous. She shouldn't be, wasn't this what she wanted? "Anza, I can't see you anymore." He looked at her a minute, she didn't know what to expect.

"Is it Fillmore?" he looked angry now.

"No. Well, not exactly. Something happened, I won't lie, but it's not about him. It's us, I don't want this anymore."

"What do you mean, 'you don't want this anymore'? For God's sake Ingrid, it's not a jacket, it's a three month long relationship!" His voice was louder than normal and his eyes were cold. Ingrid understood how Fillmore had felt when she stared at him like that.

Ingrid tried to stay calm and kept her voice level. "I understand that Anza, but I put a lot of thought into this."

Now he was yelling, "And that's supposed to change it? I'm supposed to feel better knowing you _thought _about this?" He sighed, lowering his voice, but it was still louder than usual. "You know I knewthis would happen. I _knew_ you and Fillmore had something going on. I knew you didn't _need _to be together so much for the case. All this time you two were-"

This was one thing Ingrid wouldn't stand for. "No. It was only once, it was one kiss. I was angry and stormed out of my house. Fillmore followed, talked me down; cooled me off. We took a walk and we had one goodnight kiss."

Anza shook his head, "You know what? I don't even care anymore. Here!" He threw a small box at her and turned to go.

"Wait, Anza, I didn't want it to end this way. I wanted-"

"Well to bad Ingrid, you did this. Not me." With that he turned and left.

Ingrid opened the box. Inside was the most beautiful bracelet she'd ever seen.

Fillmore entered HQ right after school. It was Friday afternoon and Anza was the only one still there. He was at his desk, typing up reports. Fillmore closed the door and pulled the shade on the door's window. He didn't want to blow his cover. "Okay man, what'd you do to her?"

Anza looked up. "Me? I didn't do anything to her. _She's _the one that broke up with _me_. And it's all because of you."

"Don't start Anza. Let's say that you didn't do anything to her. What'd you say?"

"Nothing important," Anza scowled. "Besides, why don't you just go ask her yourself?"

Fillmore opened his mouth to deliver a sharp reply, said nothing, closed it, and sighed. "Because, she won't tell me about it."

Anza didn't reply.

"Come on Anza, please. She won't eat and her dad said she hasn't slept for two days-since she talked to you. Don't you get it? I'm really worried about her. She's my best friend."

"She's more than that," Anza grumbled softly. But he looked at Fillmore and his expression softened. Fillmore looked genuinly concerned. Anza sighed; Fillmore cared about Ingrid and that was something that Anza could understand and relate to. He nodded, "Okay, I don't knoe exactly what I said but I know how to fix it." He got out paper and a pen and wrote carefully:

Ingrid-

I'm sorry I was such a jerk. Honestly. Fillmore's a great guy and you have to do what's right for you. We had a great three months. Don't worry, we're still friends. Keep the bracelet. I'd like to see you wear it. It's a gift, from one friend to another.

Anza

He folded the note and handed it to Fillmore. "This is for Ingrid. I'm not doing this for you.I just want her to be happy."

Fillmore nodded as he accepted the note. "I just don't like to see her this way."

"Neither do I."

Fillmore paused before opening the door. You know Anza, we're not together. Ingrid and I."

Anza nodded.

"Just wanted you to know." Fillmore walked out into the hall and shut the door behind him.

"You're not together _yet_." Anza said after Fillmore left. He had lied in the note. He didn't want to just be friends. And-even though he knew it was true-the part about Fillmore being a great guy seemed to be false. But what could he do? Ingrid wanted Fillmore. He was tired of being angry and bitter. He would get over it. Somehow. He sighed and gathered up his things trying to hold back tears. But it didn't work, he let them fall.

A/N: Okay, well, there you have it. The moment you've all been waiting for. Well, one moment. Hope the other one actually happens ;) Haha, I'm evil like that. Sorry this is so short and sorry if you don't like Anza. But I kind of do and I didn't want to portray him as a complete $$. I mean, you'd be upset too, right? So, I thought I should try to get you to understand his feelings. Lol, not like any of you are reading this, Anyway, only a few more chaps. Brief out line...

Sleepover takes place

We learn about Carmen and why Fillmore never mentioned her; Ingrid gets a break in the case

They put the clues together and figure out the perp

They catch the perp.

Romantic chap. That's all the details you get.

So, about five more chaps. More soon...


	14. Act XIV: The Truth About Carmen

A/N: **_Please Read This!_** Okay, I should probably mention a couple things that come up in this chapter.

1.) Ingrid and Fillmore are in 8th grade.

2.) I know this isn't what really happens, but according to one small paragraph in my story Ingrid's mom walked out on them. I know it has been stated by creators of the show that Ingrid's mother is dead, but I thought this would be interesting.

3.) A little bit of sad stuff (really sad stuff) in this chap. You've been warned. Hope it's not too melodramatic.

4.) All the phone conversations from here on will be in italics. Just for fun :)

5.) Fillmore/Ingrid relationship is not mentioned in the next two chapters. Not at all, sorry.

Anyway, keep reading and reviewing.

Friday, Ingrid got the note Anza had written her. Fillmore was the one to deliver it. He walked in Ingrid's front door withought knocking or ringing the doorbell. Mr. Third had insisted on this a couple weeks prior. Ingrid was sitting on her couch, staring into space. "Ingrid, we need to talk."

Ingrid hadn't withdrawn from Fillmore completely, she simply refused to talk about what had happened between herself and Anza. So she nodded and followed Fillmore up to her room. She closed the door and sat on the floor. "What's up? Anything new?" Ingrid hadn't gone to school that day. She was too exhausted from not eating and sleeping.

"Anza gave me something," Fillmore said, getting into his pocket.

"Fillmore, you know I don't want to talk about Anza. Please, I just-"

Fillmore grabbed her shoulders, "Ingrid, chill ok? Here, he really wanted me to give this to you this." He handed her the note and watched her read it, multiple times, judging by how long it took. She looked up.

"Anza actually wrote this." It was a statement, not a question, but she sounded surprised. "Why?"

"I told him that you weren't doing too good." He sighed, "I asked him what happened, he wrote that to help. I don't know what it says but he said it would fix it."

Ingrid would have to talk to Anza before everything was fixed. But for now this was enough to bring her back to reality. She had to focus. Her sleepover was Saturday. Tomorrow.

Twelve screaming cheerleaders in one household at midnight is enough to drive anyone insane. But a person like Ingrid had even lees of a tolerance for something like that. If it weren't for the case, Ingrid wouldn't even be doing this. And if it weren't for Fillmore's reassurances over the phone once every hour, she would have kicked the girls out at eight thirty. At twelve fifteen, she got her last call.

_"Hey Ingrid, how're you holding up?"_

_"Not that well." She was careful not to say too much, being surrounded by the team. _

"Is that Brian again?" Candi asked as the girls giggled.

Ingrid wanted to roll her eyes, but held back. "Shhh, yes, it's him."

The squad laughed again.

_Hearing that Fillmore chuckled, "sounds like fun."_

_"Loads."_

_"Well hang in there. You never know, tonight may be the night you crack the case."_

_This time Ingrid did roll her eyes, "Yeah, right."_

_Again, Fillmore laughed. "Well, just keep at it. Do you need me to call again later?"_

_"No, it's ok. I'll talk to you tomorrow."_

_"Alright, I'm gonna get to bed then. Goodnight Ingrid."_

_"'Night Brian."_

At three thirty the girls were all asleep. Except for Ingrid. She walked over to her desk, opened her jewelry box, and took out her new bracelet. The one from Anza.

"What's that?"

Ingrid spun around, she had been almost certain that everyone else was asleep. But aparently not, there was Libby standing right in front of her. "Um, it's nothing really. It's just a-a gift, from a friend of mine."

"It's beautiful," Libby said, stretching out her hand. "May I see it?"

Hesitantly, Ingrid handed the bracelet over to Libby. "Sure, but it's new so be careful."

Libby nodded, "My best friend, Victoria Hawkins, and I each have one like this."

"Really? I've never heard of her." Ingrid didn't say this because she was the least bit interested in Victoria, or the bracelets, but because she thought it would be rude not to at least pretend to make small talk. The only thing Ingrid actually wanted to do right now was sleep. She was suddenly extremely tired.

"Oh you probably wouldn't know her." Libby said, handing back the bracelet. "She moved across town, so she doesn't go to X anymore."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Ingrid said, putting the bracelet back in it's box. She was only half listening now.

"Well, we should probably get to bed, don't you think? I mean, everyone else is asleep."

Ingrid nodded, "Yeah, I'm exhausted."

Libby crawled into her sleeping bag as Ingrid collapsed onto her bed. She had tried to be a good hostess by offering her bed to her guests, but none of them would take it. Now, Ingrid was thankful for it. When you were as tired as she was you could sleep anywhere. Still, there was no place like your own bed. Ingrid's eyelids grew heavy and before she knew it, sleep took over.

Finally, at ten in the morning, the last girl, Cindy, left. Ingrid collapsed onto the couch. She was thinking of dozing off since she had only gotten four hours of sleep the previous night. But just as she was about to drift out of conciousness and into sleep, the phone rang.

_"Third residence. Ingrid speaking." This was, after all, the family phone line._

_"So I guess they're gone?" Fillmore's familiar voice greeted Ingrid on the other side of the line._

_"Yeah, Cindy left a few minutes ago. She was the last one."_

_"Did you get anything?"_

_Ingrid sighed, "I'm not sure, I don't think so. But I need to mull it over a while, I'm out of it right now."_

_"Well, I hope it wasn't a waste of your time."_

_"Me too." Ingrid cringed, "to think I did all that for nothing."_

_Fillmore laughed, "Come one Ingrid, admit it. I think you're starting to like hanging out with some of these cheerleaders. Who knows, you may try out for the squad next year."_

_"Bite your tongue." Ingrid said this seriously but then laughed. "I'll admit, not all of these girls are as annoying as I thought. But me, a cheerleader? Never gonna happen."  
"Carmen loved it," Fillmore said offhandedly and immediately wished he hadn't._

_Ingrid's ears perked up at this mention of a subject she had wanted to know more about. "The Carmen, was a cheerleader?"_

_"Uhh, yeah. She was. Anyway-" Fillmore tried to change the subject._

_"Oh, no you don't," Ingrid interrupted. "You did this the last time you accidently mentioned Carmen. What's up?"_

_"Nothing."_

_"Then why don't you want to talk about her?"_

_"It's not that I don't want to talk about her. I just-"_

_"Fillmore, I'm supposed to be your best friend."_

_"You are, Ingrid."_

_"How can I be when you won't even tell me about this?"_

_Fillmore was silent._

_"Fillmore?" Ingrid was afraid he had put down the phone and walked away._

_Fillmore sighed, "I'll be over in ten minutes."_

Ten minutes later Fillmore walked in the front door. He went over to Ingrid and sat down on the couch next to her.

"So," Ingrid said after a few minutes of silence.

"You wanted to know about Carmen." Fillmore said, staring straight forward, not looking at Ingrid. "Why?"

Ingrid shrugged, "I guess because you don't want me to know. I mean, I've told you everything about me and, until this, I thought I knew everything about you."

Fillmore was silent for a minute. "It's not that I don't want you to know." He sighed, "I just don't want to talk about it."

"Like I didn't want to talk about my mother?" Ingrid asked.

Fillmore thought back to when Ingrid had finally admitted that her mother had walked out on their family when Ingrid was very young. Ingrid hadn't wanted to talk about it but Fillmore just wouldn't leave it alone. Finally, she had told him and they hadn't mentioned it since. Maybe that was what would happen with Carmen.

He sighed, "Ingrid, I lied."

"What do you mean, 'you lied'?"

"Just what I said, the little that you know about Carmen is a lie. She wasn't my girlfriend, she was my _best_ friend. My first _real_ friend after I gave up my old life."

Ingrid shook her head, "If she was just a friend, why didn't you want to tak about her?"

"She reminds me of you," Fillmore said.

Ingrid didn't know if this was an answer or an evasion to the question, but she decided to go along with it,"How so?"

Fillmore pulled out a picture of a girl who eerily resembled Ingrid. Ingrid looked at it a few minutes. The girl had straight, short black hair just like her own. The same skin tone, body shape, and facial structure. She was a year or two younger and wearing a red cheerleading uniform. She could have been Ingrid's twin. Except for her eyes. They were blue.

"That's Carmen?"

Fillmore nodded, "The minute I saw you, after I realized you couldn't really be Carmen, I thought, 'oh my gosh, she looks just like her.' But at first I thought you were her."

Ingrid nodded in understanding, "She does look like me, except for her blue eyes."

"It scares me, " Fillmore said softly.

Ingrid agreed, "Yeah, it is kind of creepy."

Fillmore shook his head. "No, you don't get it, Ingrid." He turned toward her. "It really _scares_ me. You remind me of her too much." He sighed, "We were great friends and I'll never see her again. And you and I are-"

"Fillmore, she was your best friend and she moved away. I know it's hard, but I'm not going to leave. I promise."

"You don't have any control over it."

"I've lost you Fillmore. You know my dad would never force me to move."

"He can't control it either. That's the other thing I lied about. Carmen didn't move a couple of weeks before you came. She died."

"What?"

Fillmore sighed, "Ingrid, Carmen was sick. She had cancer."

Ingrid shook her head, "No, Carmen looks, she looks fine here." She gestured to the picture.

"She was in remission. Carmen was diagnosed when she was five and went into remission when she was ten. Eveyone was sure she was out of the woods by that time. A couple of months before you came her cancer came back, worse than ever. She was dead in a month and a half."

Fillmore wasn't crying but his eyes were wet and glassy looking.

Ingrid put an arm around his shoulder, hesitantly. "Fillmore, I-"

"Do you remember a couple of months ago when you got sick?"

Ingrid nodded, she did remeber, it had been awful. She had gotten scarletina somehow. She ran a high fever, rotated between sweating and having chills, had hallucinations, and vomitted. This lasted for five days and after that she couldn't return to school for a week because of how tired and weak she was.

"Well, you really scared me. That's why I was here almost the whole time. I was afraid that if something happened, I'd be gone. I thought, 'Just please don't let this happen like Carmen.' See, the doctors said she would probably be fine. So I went out of town with my family. Then, when I came back, she was gone. Anyway when the doctor said you would prabably be fine, I didn't believe him. So I stayed here." He looked at the ground. "I never got to say goodbye to Carmen. I wouldn't let it happen again."

Fillmore had turned to face Ingrid. She slipped her other arm around him and he returned the hug. "I am so sorry." Ingrid whispered.

Fillmore nodded, pulled back, and wiped his eyes. "Now you know. That's everything."

Ingrid smiled, "Are you sure? There's no one else who could pass for my twin?"

Fillmore shhok his head, smiling. "It's eery though, you two are practically identical."

"Except for the eyes," Ingrid pointed out.

"And the ears."

"The ears? Fillmore what are you talking about?" Ingrid picked up the picture that had been lying on the coffe table.

"She has her ears pierced." He pointed to little shining dots on Carmen's ears. "See the little silver hoops?"

"Oh, yeah. I guess I just didn't-" Ingrid stopped abruptly and put her hand to her temple; closing her eyes. "Fillmore, that's it! It's the jewelry. Hurry, get Matthew on the phone. I need a background check for someone!"

A/N: Okay, I've got just a little bit of writer's block. I've got _part_ of the next chapter written. But don't worry, I'll be cured soon. Please review, even if you didn't like it. The one thing I don't want to hear is how unbelievable the whole cancer in and out of remission thing is. Because it's actually very acurate, it's exactly what happened to a cousin of mine.


	15. Act XV: Realization

**A/N: Okay, I lied. There's a lil Fillmore/ Ingrid in this chap. Anyway, here you go. It's a lil long. Well, it looks long as I'm typing it up and it took a while so I hope you like it. Uhh PLEASE read the A/N at the end.**

It was Monday afternoon, Ingrid had just finished up her cheerleading practice. She, Matthew, and Fillmore were gathered in Fillmore's room. "Okay," Matthew began. "You wanted them and I got them. Every paper, file, picture, and shred of information I could find on Victoria Anne Hawkins, age fourteen, grade eight at Ben Franklin Jr. High. What I don't understand is why you wanted it."

Ingrid paced the room. "Well, I think I've got an idea of who's doing this and for whom. Read all the information please."

Matthew looked at Filllmore who shrugged, indicating he had no idea what was going on. This was just how Ingrid operated. Matthew returned the shrug, resigned to the fact that he'd be left in the dark until Ingrid was ready to explain. He sighed and read what he had. "Let's see, she transfered early this year because she moved into Ben Franklin's school district. When she was at X she was active in the newspaper and cheerleading. Since her transfer Victoria's grades hve risen and she's now the cheerleading captain.

"That's it," Ingrid announced. "Okay, read everything about the squad."

"Well, all I have is that they've won the city competition six years in a row, but then they lost to their biggest rivals last year."

"Who won?" Fillmore and Ingrid asked in unison.

"X Middle School."

Fillmore looked at Ingrid, "Why didn't I know that?"

"The competition was the day of your surgery last year and you were out for two weeks so the hype was over by the time you got back."

Fillmore nodded but then realized something. "Then why didn't you know? You said you only skipped the day of my surgery and a couple days during my recovery."

"I lied, I skipped the whole two weeks."

"Why?" He sounded half angry at her lie but more curious than anything.

She shrugged, "I know it was minor surgery but the being scared thing works both ways."

Fillmore smiled and so did Matthew who was pretending to be engrossed in his notes while actually listening to their conversation.

"So who is this Victoria Hawkins?" Fillmore asked, finally.

"Libby's best friend," Ingrid was smiling, beaming if that was possible for Ingrid.

Fillmore didn't see a connection. "Ingrid, I thought we were going with the family connections angle."

"We did."

Fillmore shook his head, "But Ingrid-"

Ingrid turned to Matthew. "Matthew, why was I so bad at making a vase?"

"Exactly," Ingrid thought this would be enough but once she looked at their confused faces she knew Fillmore and Matthew didn't get it. She sighed, "Looke you guys, we were looking at one small part, not the whole thing. Being a blood relative is not a requirement for being a family member. Fillmore why doesn't my dad makEe you knock on the door at our house?"

Because he says I'm part of the family."

"Exactly, I'd do anything for Fillmore, and I'd do anything for family. Your best friend usually is part of your family."

"I got it," Fillmore said. "You thinkg Libby is passing information to her best friend Victoria."

Ingrid nodded, "It'd make her look great to take the trophy back from her old school."

"Only one problem," Matthew interjected.

"What's that?" Ingrid asked.

"How are we going to prove it?"

Ingrid sighed, "I hadn't gotten that far yet."

"Well I know where to start," Fillmore voluntered, "we need to search Ben Franklin."

"But there's no time," Matthew pointed out. "The competition is in two weeks and searching the school without a clue what we're looking for would take forever!"

Fillmore nodded, "what do you suggest?"

"We need a motive. She must have talked to the team, they seem close. Maybe they know if she's unhappy with cheerleading or something. Our best bet is one of the girls."

"But who?"

Ingrid thought, "A team's only as strong as it's weakest link. I'll try Samantha. In the meantime, Matthew, we need some hard evidence. Take Anza and Tehama and search Ben Franklin. Get more on the cheerleading squad and who Victoria hangs out with. Follow her, we need to catch her in the act most likely, or at least figure out how she's doing what she's doing."

"Got it."

"Fillmore I don't know what else you can do until the takedown." She smiled, "You could try to get your team to state."

Fillmore nodded, "That and I have some things to sort out." He thought about Anza and how wrecked their friendship was. He still needed to fix things.

Ingrid nodded and sighed. "Tell me about it. But all my sorting's going on at home." She looked at Matthew and then turned back to Fillmore. "I'm gonna go on home."

Fillmore nodded, showing he understood. "Meet you at the corner tomorrow."

"As always."

ON THE WAY HOME

"Matthew?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you mad at me?" She didn't know why she asked him that. But it seemed like a decent way to end the silence.

"No," he sounded truthful yet surprised. "Why?"

Ingrid shrugged, "Well, when our parent stold us about the wedding and I, um..."

"Freaked out?"

"Well, yeah." She thought back, almost ashamed of how she acted. "Look, i didn't mean to offend you or your mom, I just-"

"You didn't."

"Oh, well...ok."

They walked for a while without talking. "Why don't you like her?" Matthew asked.

"What"

"My mom, why don't you like her? She's a good mom. I mean, she's not perfect. Her cooking's pretty bad but other than that...She's not very strict, she doesn't treat me like a little kid, she's really easy to talk to. So what's wrong with her?"

"Nothing's wrong with her."

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Why don't you like her?"

"I do like her Matthew."

"Are you afraid?"

"Of what?"

"Of having a new mother?"

"Of course not."

"You wouldn't have to call her mom."

"I know."

Matthew opened his mouth but then shut it, remaining silent. For some reason thjis made Ingrid feel as if she had to say something. "It's just weird. One day she's practically asking for my approval and the next she's getting engaged!"

"Your dad proposed."

"I know."

"That means they're in love. Don't you want them happy."

"Yes, but they haven't been together long enough to be in love."

"But they've known each other since you moved here."

Ingrid sighed, she couldn't believe she was standing there talking about love. She didn't understand it, she was only fourteen. "Okay, let's say they're in love. Now, if this doesn't work out do you think they can ever go back to being friends like they were? No, because this little relationship has ruined their friendship."

Matthew was silent for a minute. Ingrid thought this was because he had accepted that she was right. Boy, was she wrong.

"I was right, you are scared."

"What?"

"This isn't about you and Fillmore."

Ingrid stopped dead. "I know, I wasn't talking about that."

"Yes you were."

"Of course I wasn't. I know who I was talking about. I was talking about..."

Matthew smiled, "our parents know what they're doing. They're _adults_."

Ingrid thought, could she have transfered all her worries about what was going on in her life to what was going on in her father's? She had. Matthew was right, she didn't need to worry about them, they were adults. She started walking again. "They are doing the right thing." Now the question was, were she and Fillmore going to do the right thing?

**A/N: There you go. Okay, here's why I wanted you to read this. I want to start another ff but I have 2 different plots. So I'll list them below and I want you to vote for the one you like the best. You can either e-mail me or leave it in your review. Here they are:**

1.) (Set in 7th grade) Ingrid gets upset when an article is written giving Fillmore all the credit on the latest bust. Basically Fillmore doesn't see a big deal and they get in an argument. (Better than it sounds) Anyway, I was thinking of switching the roles and they might be more believable (Ingrid gets all the credit) So if you vote for this tell me who should be in which role.

2.) (Set years later) Fillmore and Ingrid tried to stay in touch but after going to different colleges they drifted apart. Ingrid becomes a detective and comes home to her NY apartment to find Fillmore (whom she hasn't heard from in forever) sitting on her couch. He's on the run and needs her help to clear his name on a bank robbery he swears he didn't commit.


	16. Act XVI: The Motive

_**A/N: Okay, I am soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo sorry about the long delay between the chapters. But I have a good reason. I've been writing my next Fillmore ff. Yes, I decided on a plotline. Well, actually you guys did, the second one won, big time. But I'm going to do them both. (Still haven't decided who I'm giving credit to, for that first plot, though.) Anyway, my next ff will be called "Don't Give Up On Me" and I've got it all planned. (I'm writing it all before posting, bet ur glad to hear that) Anyway, this story only has a few more chapters, so enjoy!**_

"Okay girls, that's good for today. If we keep improving like this there's no way anyone can beat us." Ingrid plastered on her fake smile which she always used at practice. "Um, Samantha, can you stay for a few minutes? I want to go over a couple of moves with you."

Samantha nodded, "Okay."

"I'll see everyone else tomorrow then." Ingrid waved as everyone filed out chirping a chorus of "Bye Mindy."

When the gym door closed Ingrid walked to Samantha. "Okay Sam, you're just a little slow on your second eight count during the dance break."

Sam nodded, "Yeah, I know. That's right after those two back handsprings in a row. I guess I'm just a little slow on the recovery."

"Why don't we try it a couple times. I'll take Libby's spot and we'll pretend Candi's between us."

"Alright."

So they did. They went through an eight count, did two back handsprings, and then moved into another eight count of dancing. But no matter how many times they did it, or how hard they tried, Sam was always a second or even two behind Ingrid.

"Sorry Mindy. I just don't think I can do this."

Ingrid smiled, it's okay, you tried. Let's try it again with only one back handspring."

This solved their problem.

"That's better. I guess there just wasn't enough time for you to do both and recover."

Sam nodded, "But what about Libby?"

"We'll tell her tomorrow. She'll pick it up fast."

"You don't think she'll mind?"

Ingrid shook her head, "She loves cheerleading so much I'm sure she won't care." She hoped Samantha would take the bait.

She did, "Don't be so sure about that."

"What?"

Samantha looked at the ground for a minute. "It's hard to be on a team with people who are so much better than you, Mindy."

Ingrid nodded, "It's a lot of pressure."

"Not only that, but it's not fair. The person on the team who's doing the best doesn't even want to be here."

Personally, Ingrid thought Tandi was the best girl on the team, but it wasn't important. She was so close to the motive. "What do you mean?"

Sam took a deep breath, "You'd think she'd love it. I mean, she comes from a family of cheerleaders. But she doesn't. She doesn't want any of it. She's been cheering since 5th grade, she used to like it but at the end of last year she decided she had had enough." She stopped and Ingrid was afraid she wouldn't continue.

"So, why is she still here?"

"Her mother makes her. She says that it's Libby's responsibility."

"Responsibility?"

Samantha nodded, "Yep, to help her friends accomplish their goals by doing what she's good at. Libby said her mom won't let her quit until she can't help her friends anymore."

"You mean, until she can't help them win their competition?"

Samantha shrugged, "I guess."

_"Fillmore, it's Ingrid, I've got the motive."_

_"Already? Sam just gave it to you?"_

_"Well, it's not like I said, 'What reasons would Libby have to sabatoge her own team?' I had to dig a little, but it wasn't hard."_

_"Well then, good job."_

_"So did you find any hard evidence?"_

_"Uh, maybe."_

_Ingrid sighed, "Maybe?"_

_"Well, we found out that both Principal Hicks and Victoria are putting a lot of pressure on Ben's squad to win."_

_"Well, at least it backs up our theory."_

_"There's more, we found a piece of jewelry."_

_"Like a bracelet?"_

_"No, like maybe a piece of one. It's not whole."_

_"Oh," Ingrid's disappointment was heard, they needed more._

_"It's a big fake ruby and there's something on the back of it. It says 2bhs. Does that mean anything?"_

_"Uhh-"_

_"Hang on, call waiting."_

_Ingrid sat on the line for a minut, thinking. _

_Fillmore switched back over, "Okay, that was Tehama. They found another piece."_

_"Does it say anything?"_

_"Yeah,'1fwo'-it's like a code."_

_Ingrid thought. "No, not a cade. Fillmore, I think they're abbreviations for something."_

_"Like what?"_

_"Uh, repeat them."_

_He did, the first one was easy to figure out. "It's two back handsprings."_

_"What about the other one?"_

_"I don't know, let me think." After a couple minutes, she spoke, "One front walkover."_

_Fillmore wrote it down. "You don't think this is how Libby has been passing information, do you?"_

_Ingrid shrugged before remembering that Fillmore couldn't see her. "I don't know, but it would explain her overacessorizing."_

_"We need a piece of her jewelry."_

_"I'll figure it out."_

_"Forget it Ingrid, the safety patrol will take care of it. Just keep cheering."_

_"I hate cheering!"_

_Fillmore laughed, "Hey, what's Libby's motive?"_

_"Oh, she doesn't want to cheer anywmore." She told him the whole story about Libby's forceful mother._

_"So, losing is the only way to get out of something she hates."_

_"Yep."_

_Fillmore shook his head, "Why didn't she just blow it?"_

_"Because she and Victoria are friends. Libby had to help her. Friendship makes you do crazy things."_

_"Guess it does."_

_"I have to go Fillmore. It's my night to cook."_

_"Okay, see you tomorrow, Ingrid."_

_"Bye Fillmore."_

_**A/N: Okay, it's short, I know but I promise not to leave you hanging so long this time.**_


	17. Act VII: All For Nothing?

A/N: Okay...we'll just pretend like the huge gap didn't happen. I'm so sorry...but a future warning to all readers, I NEVER promise something without intending to do it...things happen. Plus, I'll ALWAYS finish a story I start. But I am horrible at updating promptly. My next story will be better though as it is prewritten. Although there will be a gap between this story and that one. Anyway, this chap jumps a bit and yes, it's supposed to be rushed. It acts as a bridge between two important chaps...

There was static on Ingrid's radio before she heard Fillmore's voice, "Are you sure about this?"

"Of course I am," she answered. "I hope," she whispered. It'd been a week since they first discovered the secret meaning behind Libby's jewelry. The case had dragged on long enough. Ingrid was desperate to get back to her classes and Safety patrol duties...but first she had to get rid of Libby.

Meanwhile, Fillmore was worried that Ingrid was rushing things a bit. It was as though she had switched places with him. He was being cautious, trying to collect more evindence while she was barrelling foward with a risky plan. But he went along with it and replied enthusiastically to Ingrid's assurances. "We're all behind you Ingrid, are you ready?"

"Yeah, so quit talking to me." She concealed her walkie and listened closely. She admitted that her plan was far from safe, she knew it wasn't a sure thing. She had hidden a tape recorder in the gym, knowing that Victoria and Libby would be there. She needed them to say enough to hook themselves. But that was only the beginning. Ingrid had to walk in on them casually and retrieve the tape recorder. Fillmore was then supposed to stall them until she could take the tape to Vallejo. yes, he had insited upon hearing the tape before they made the bust. Karen, Danny, and Matthew were there in case the girls tried to run. On top of all this Ingrid had to make sure that she didn't enter the gym until the tape had what they needed...too bad she could barely hear through the door. Finally, she heard, 'We're taking it to competition.' That was enough for her, she radioed Fillmore. "I'm going in now."

"Mindy, hi!" Libby smiled and waved enthusiasticallly as Ingrid entered.

Ingrid barely caught herself before rolling her eyes and instead forced a smile.

"Victoria, this is my captain, Mindy," Libby introduced Ingrid in her too-sweet voice, "and Mindy, this is my best friend, Victoria."

"Nice to meet you, Victoria." Ingrid said politely before letting her eyes wander to the floor.

"So what brings you here, Ingrid?"

Ingrid's eyes widened and she looked up quickly. "What did you call me?" She asked, deciding to play dumb.

"Oh give it up, we know who you are." Libby's voice had lost it's perkiness and her eyes narrowed fiercly. "You're Ingrid Third, Safety Patrol."

'Obviously playing dumb isn't working,' Ingrid thought. That was fine, she was tired of pretending. "So, what's your point?" She asked defiantly.

"You think you're pretty smart don't you? Well, I guess it's too bad we're one step ahead."

"Really?" Ingrid asked, feigning curiousity. "I'm not following you."

"Well maybe you should." And they took off in different directions.

Ingrid grabbed her walkie, "Fillmore, Libby's coming your way!" And she took off after Victoria.

...Interogation Room 10 Minutes Later...

"How did you find out?" Demanded Ingrid, plopping into a seat across from Libby.

"Check the school district's GPA's. I'm sure that you'll find that number two-that's right after you and right before Parnassus-is Victoria. Her speciality is computers; she pulled your file."

Ingrid was too mad at herself for not having her file blocked that she couldn't speak. But Fillmore found a question to ask. "How did you know to look her up?"

Libby smiled, "One day a boy came to Interview some of us. Ingrid pretended like she didn't know who he was so he introduced himself as "Officer Delaney." Later, she reffered to him as "Matthew Delaney." He had never said his name was Matthew, she just knew. She practically gave this to us."

Ingrid's cheeks burned in embarassment, but Fillmore was angry at Libby's snide remarks. He bit his lip trying to control his temper. When he was sure he had his composure, he spoke. "It's too bad though, that you wasted your time finding out who she was. She's got evidence; solid proof that it was you. You and Victoria."

"No she doesn't," Libby sneered, turning to Ingrid. "You seriously need to get over yourself. Try actually _listening_ to the tape."

Fillmore exchanged a worried glanced with Ingrid as he reached over and clicked on the tape recorder:

_"Watch this Vic." (Puse, thumping sounds as if gymnastics are being preformed)_

_"That was amazing!"_

_"Yeah, here, let me show you again."_

_"Why don't you just write it down?"_

_"I did actually. Here."_

_"Aw, Libby, it's such a nice bracelet."_

_"Yeah, the moves are on the back."_

_"Thanks. So, where did you learn this?"_

_"We're taking it to competition. But I want you to use it instead."_

_"What!"_

Libby laughed, "Not what you though, was it Miss Third?"

Ingrid stared at the ground, furious with herself. Fillmore stepped forward, "Shut up Libby."

"Why are you so angry at me?" She asked cheerfully. "She's the one who screwed up."

Fillmore's fist banged down on the table. "Fillmore, don't." Ingrid interrupted before he could even unleash his anger on Libby.

"But Ingrid-"

"No, she's right. I screwed up." And with that she left the interrogation room, slamming the door.

Fillmore sighed, "I'll be right back. But let me just warn you now, if she does anything stupid because of this, I'll make sure you're time in detention is doubled," and he left. Sensing she would probably want to be alone he checked the other interrogation room. He found her, sitting at the table scribbling something on a pad of paper, looking furious. He sat down beside her, "Ingrid."

"Yeah?" She didn't look up.

"Don't listen to Libby, she's-"

"She's right."

"No she isn't."

Ingrid slammed her pen down and looked up at Fillmore. "What do you not understand about this? I screwed up, okay? I spent more time worrying about being undercover as a cheerleader and not enough time doing my job. I just wanted to get out, I was selfish. So I ended up rushing and maybe losing the whole case. I didn't care enough!" She thrusted the pad of paper at him, (it turned out to be a list of her mistakes) got up, and walked toward the big window.

Fillmore put the list down, not bothering to read it. he sighed, got up and walked to Ingrid, "Turn around."

She didn't move.

"Ingrid, look at me."

She still didn't respond. Fillmore quickly stepped into the space between her and the window, blocking her view. But she still refused to look at him, staring at at the floor stubbornly.Fillmore rooled his eyes and put each of his hand on either side of her face, turning it towards him. "Listen to me. You-did-not-mess-up. You care about this job more than anyone else I know. This wasn't your fault. You've got Libby, she's guilty and you proved it. So don't you dare let her get off the hook,_ that _would be screwing up."

"But Victoria-"

"Don't worry about her. You've got the mole, you've trained your team, they'll beat Ben Franklin and that enough."

Ingrid was silent for a moment but then, "we need to go finish up in there." Fillmore nodded and hugged her briefly. They walked back into the main section of HQ, talking.

"I'll let you do most of it, Ingrid. Just tell her what's up and-"

Vallejo bursted through the door, "Congratulations, Third."

"Thanks."

"I was being sarcastic," he said, grinding his teeth. "What's this I hear about Victoria getting away? you were supposed to come to me before you made this bust!"

"Look Vallejo, now is not the time to-" Fillmore began.

"No, it's okay. Look Vallejo, I made a judgement call. If I wanted either of them, I didn't have time to waste. Now, if you don't mind, I've got a perp waiting." And she left, leaving both Fillmore and Vallejo standing there. Vallejo was gaping at her open mouthed, but Fillmore just smiled.

"She's back."

...Interrogation Room 30 Seconds Later...

"Glad to see you back, _Officer_ Third."

"Aw thanks Libby. It's nice to see you tou too." Ingrid chirped, unusually cheerfully.

Libby, obviously not seeing the humor, just glared at her.

"Well Libby, here's the deal. We've got you. This is solid proof. But we both know you staged this tape, Victoria was in on this. It's not really fair that you're going down and she's jumped ship, now is it? If you turn her in, maybe we can have that detention time of yours cut down."

"Don't you get it? I could have done almost anything to get kicked off the squad. I _wanted_ to do this. Vic is my best friend. Why would I take her down? I won't do it."

Ingrid looked through the glass at Fillmore. "I'm not sure I blame you there."

"Really?"

Ingrid smiled and looked back at Libby. "Really. Well, I guess that's it. You can leave. Report to Folsome's office tomorrow."

...Main Part of HQ, 5 Min. Later...

"She won't give up Victoria."

"Big surprise there," Fillmore commented.

"That's bad news, Third." Vallejo chimed in.

Ingrid rolled her eyes, "we got it Vallejo."

"No, you don't. There's something else, the squad has to forfeit."

"Why?" Fillmore asked lightly.

"Well, without Libby and Ingrid, there's not enough girls."

"Are you seriously saying," Ingrid began in disbelief, "that they didn't figure out that once the mole and I were gone there'd be two less people to cheer. You're saying they didn't do the math before we started?"

"It wasn't exactly a top priority, Third."

Fillmore shook his head, "Man, that's a tough break."

"Yeah, and there's nothing we can do this late." Vallejo shrugged, "The team will just have to skip the competition this year."

"Oh no they won't," Ingrid said determindly.

A/N: Okay, well two more chaps. I bet you can guess what the next one is. Again, I know this chap was rushed so please, please, don't pint that out to me fifty time in your reviews. Anyway, thatnks for reading thus far, you have incredible patience...or incredible curiousity. Mybe both. Anyway, I'm thankful for it, please review!


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